pals
Mark Alan Lovewell
T omorrow when the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe’s fifth annual powwow begins, it will be with the Grand Entry, when members of different tribes from all over New England proceed into the arena at the Aquinnah Circle, that grassy open meadow near the Cliffs, to music and drumming. All spectators stand in welcome.
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Powwows
Mark Alan Lovewell
The Aquinnah Cultural Center has opened a new exhibit, celebrating the history of the town through voices. The center is located on the cliffs, at the homestead of the Vanderhoop family. The beautiful white house which now has a role of preserving the town’s history has stunning views of the shoreline. This is the cultural center’s fourth summer, and the latest exhibit is for all who care about Aquinnah and its rich history.
Aquinnah Cultural Center
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities has awarded matching grants totaling $48,645 in support of eight humanities projects in communities across the state. Five of the grants, totaling $33,645, were made under the theme Liberty and Justice for All for projects that explore these fundamental principles in American political life and their interplay, past and present.
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Aquinnah Cultural Center
Wampanoag Powwow
Sam Bungey
While the vestiges of hurricane Hanna whipped rain onto the Aquinnah Circle and sucked at the canvas tent covering Saturday’s annual youth powwow, inside spectators dropped bills on the grass for f
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Powwows
Sam Bungey
Bureaucratic black holes, poor communication and a lack of tact that borders on comedic are to blame for a series of recent misunderstandings between the Aquinnah town government and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). The first fiasco began in late July when building inspector Jerry Wiener sent a letter tribal chairman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais citing the tribe for violating town zoning laws and the state building code on three building projects.
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Aquinnah select board
Follow the drumbeats to the Circle at the Aquinnah Cliffs on Saturday, Sept. 6, from noon to 6 p.m. for the annual powwow with the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). There will be traditional dancing and drumming, Native American exhibits, arts, crafts and food, all sponsored by the Tribal Youth Program. Gates open at 10 a.m. Grand entry is at noon. Follow the signs; parking is free, with a free shuttle to and from the Cliffs.
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Powwows
Sam Bungey
Nearly four years after the landmark sovereignty case was decided by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has yet to secure a town building permit for the small shed and pier that were at the center of the dispute. Aquinnah building inspector Jerry A. Weiner sent a letter to tribal chairman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais late last month formally notifying her that the tribe is in violation of town zoning laws and the state building code on three projects, including the shed and pier. The tribe has not responded to the letter.
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
girls prepare gifts for their guests
Jack Shea
Aquinnah’s young people are a renewable tribal energy source, the annual spring social potluck showed last Sunday. The annual event was sponsored and organized by members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) youth program. Featuring traditional Wampanoag singing and dancing and a 20-foot-long potluck food table, the event drew more than 125 celebrants to tribal headquarters, including youth groups from the Mashantucket Pequot, Mashpee, Mohegan and Narragansett tribes.
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Cheryl Andrews-Maltais
Jack Shea
Cheryl Andrews-Maltais’s landslide victory as chairman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) last Sunday stunned some tribal members, and while the chairman-elect was surprised by her margin of victory, her opponent said he was not.
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Jim Hickey
After a brief public hearing and a whirlwind deliberation session, the Martha's Vineyard Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a community center for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) on Black Brook Road. The community center is in fact already partially built. The tribe first broke ground on the center in the spring of 2004; the building remains half-finished.
Martha's Vineyard Commission
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Wampanoag conference
Jack Shea
BOSTON — The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) publicly stepped back into the casino game this week, as tribal leaders formally announced that they have formed a business partnership with Seneca Nation, an upstate New York tribe that owns and operates three successful casinos. Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal chairman Donald Widdiss announced the partnership at a press conference at the Omni Parker House in Boston late Wednesday morning, although news of the partnership had been reported in the regional print press early this month.
Casinos
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Jack Shea
The third annual Aquinnah Youth Powwow on Sunday will have an Ivy League flavor. Not that Polos and Dockers will replace traditional breech clouts and jingle dresses, but this year the event, hosted by the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), will include 120 graduate students from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, courtesy of Tobias Vanderhoop, a prime mover in this event produced by tribal young people.
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Powwows

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