The crackle of a bonfire and the sounds of children playing created a backdrop this evening for an open forum with local indigenous leaders Andrew Tyler, Vanessa Bolin, and Richard Senegal at the Indigenous People’s Day Celebration. The gathering was hosted at Earth Folk Collective, an urban homestead project in the city of Richmond that hosts workshops and community events. Event organizers Laney Sullivan and Vanessa Bolin, created the evening of storytelling as an opportunity to learn about Native American culture current and past, as well as traditions, beliefs, politics, and the Native perspective. Topics discussed included the importance of storytelling, music, dance, and drumming, differences in tribes, indigenous issues in politics, the symbolic meaning of traditional clothing, native perspective on thanksgiving and other Western holidays, and more.