The second annual X’maay Festival returns to Terrace on July 24 and 25, expanding on the success of last year’s inaugural celebration with new programming, cultural exchanges, and a traditional welcome feast.
Festival Chair Nikki Villeneuve says the response to the first festival showed there was a real appetite for an event celebrating Indigenous culture.
“We had over two thousand people over the weekend and it just showed us the desire to celebrate Indigenous culture together. We had so many amazing volunteers from different organizations and funders.”
Several new features have been added for this year’s festival, including a traditional welcome feast, an expanded Indigenous vendor market with about thirty-five vendors, additional cultural demonstrations, and visiting dance groups from across British Columbia.
The festival will also host members of the Squamish Nation as part of a cultural exchange.
“They’re going to be participating in the preparation and learning about Nisga’a culture and then they’ll be here to teach us about theirs as well.”
Villeneuve says support from new funding partners has allowed organizers to expand the event while improving the visitor experience.
One of those partners is the University of Northern British Columbia, which is covering most of the feast supplies and providing reusable water bottles after organizers identified hydration as an issue during last year’s event.
The festival is named after the Nisga’a berry harvesting season.
“It’s a season of abundance when families gather to harvest food from the land and prepare for the months ahead. It’s also a time to give thanks for what the land provides and to pass on knowledge from one generation to the next.”
Villeneuve says everyone is welcome to attend and experience two days of Indigenous culture, music, food, dancing, and community.
