Tamkaliks Community Conversation

On October 8^th, 2021 the Wallowa Public Library hosted the Tamkaliks Community Conversation and Slideshow.  This event was made possible by a grant awarded to the library from the American Library Association Libraries Transforming Communities.  The event was held at the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland Arbor, an amazing elk/buffalo lasagna dinner was served, and attendees had an opportunity to see numerous images from the past 30 years of Tamkaliks.

75 community members of all ages attended the event on that chilly fall evening.  With the help of several volunteers and the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland staff, Angela Bombaci and Sara Averbeck, the conversation went off without a hitch.  Stories were shared by people who attended the first celebration back in 1990 or 1991 (the exact date is to this day unknown).  We heard stories of how the original Friendship Feast only needed one deer to feed everyone and now as the event has grown throughout the years, buffalo, elk and salmon are served during the Friendship Feast on the final day of the Tamkaliks. 

People shared about the process the Nez Perce went through to purchase land around the Wallowa area and how some residents of town were concerned that a casino would be built.  The slideshow shared during the conversation had images of the first event held at the Wallowa School field back in the early 1990s and include pictures of the teepee poles coming into town and the vendors set up around the field.  The slideshow ended with images from the last event back in 2019, which was the last year the event happened due to Covid-19 concerns.  Pictures brought back so many memories for attendees and the stories shared were endless. 

The intention of this community conversation was to be reminded of where our communities have been in relation to the Tamkaliks and where we can still go.  As the world can sometimes feel so divided, this conversation allowed our communities to come together, to listen, to share and to respect each other’s past and future.  Hopefully this memory and story sharing will continue throughout the year and hopefully next July we’ll all be together again under the arbor celebrating Tamkaliks. 

Did you miss the conversation but still want to share your memories?  It’s never too late.  Contact the library at [email protected] or reach out the Nez Perce Wallowa Homeland as they are continuing to collect stories. 

You can also stop by the library and see several of the images shared during the event on our display this fall, or check out www.wallowanezpercearchive.org

Thank you to everyone who made this event a success.  To those who supported the event from afar, shared their own personal photos, to those who cooked, helped set up, and clean up, and to those who were behind the first Tamkaliks and continue to support the event today.  This conversation wouldn’t have been possible without you.