Kevin Daugherty, on behalf of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, Monday night invited Dowagiac City Council members to attend the 26th annual Kee Boon Mein Kaa Pow Wow Labor Day weekend, Saturday, Sept. 3, and Sunday, Sept. 4, at Rodgers Lake, 58620 Sink Road, Dowagiac.

Grand entries take place Saturday at 1 and at 6 p.m. and Sunday at noon.

There will also be a sunrise ceremony about 7 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 2, starting from the tribal property on Gage Street in Wayne Township and proceeding with the women’s water walk to Pokagon Township.

“It’s a contest pow wow,” Daugherty said, “so we’ll have a lot of Great Lakes dancers representing all the different styles and competing for prize money. We’ll have a lot of drums there, as well. Another part of that is the women’s water walk, for which we usually work with city police.

“Traditional women in our community pray for the health of water because they feel it’s part of their role as life-givers.

“Our bodies are 80 percent water. We wouldn’t be here without water. When you’re born, you’re carried in water for nine months before coming out into this world.”

Host drum will be Bear Creek, with co-host the Ribbon Town Singers.

Invited drums include Painted Rock, Southern Straight, Wisconsin Dells and Spirit Lake.