Neal Rubin: A first at this year's National Cherry Festival in Traverse City

The cherry queen will meet the Wiigwaasmin Pageant Princess on Monday at the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City. The festival board and the CEO will watch the princess be crowned, which means they'll finally be staying to the end of the annual powwow, and that's more than an act of courtesy.

To the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, it's an acknowledgement that they have a present and a future as well as a past.

To the CEO, Kat Paye, it's a reminder that she's allowed and even obligated to relax and enjoy Michigan's largest summer festival, even amid the frenzy of putting it on.

And, said one of the co-founders of the pageant, it's overdue — an assessment Paye endorses.

Paye was staggered to learn during a planning meeting a few months ago that like the festival itself, what's known as the Kchi Wiikwedong Anishinaabek Pow Wow includes the crowning of royalty.

Leading up to pageant No. 11 at powwow No. 30, Samantha TwoCrow said Native Americans are used to being overlooked.

"There are millions of things we do that are never recognized outside our tribal community," said TwoCrow, 37. "We're grateful they understand that."

"I felt bad for not knowing," Paye said.

Paye, 41, can tell you where to put the bleachers for the powwow at the Bayside Music Stage, how to set up the tables for the exhibit tent, and that the dancers always enter their circle from the east.

While she'd seen portions of the event, however, with its drumming, dancing and traditional singing, she was too busy sprinting between responsibilities to watch much of it.

Now she will.

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Trees, titles and tradition

The National Cherry Festival, running through Saturday, is in its 97th year. The tribes have a bit more tenure than that, and they appreciate their annual spotlight from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

"It gives us a sense of belonging and establishment," TwoCrow said, "because we were here long before time."

What they're trying to do with the pageant is honor their history through the vessels of their future — the 10- to 16-year-old girls who have competed to be princess since the first pageant, and the 5- to 9-year-olds who've since been included through a Little Miss Wiigwaasmin category while 5- to 16-year-old boys compete to be the Wiigwaasmin Warrior.

Wiigwaas means birch bark, and the Anishinaabe consider the birch to be the tree of life. The idea for the pageant sprouted at a weekly craft session for women trying to keep traditional arts alive, yet another way to connect with their roots.

“We’re generally a community of people who have had this taken away from us,” she said. “We want to make sure they are representing and relearning that culture, hopefully bringing it back for more generations to come."

TwoCrow was heartened that two of the reigning title holders are from the Grand Traverse Band, princess Chloe Chippewa and the Little Miss, Bird Marshall. Shaune Leaxreaux, the Warrior, is part of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan.

Each performed a tribal dance, answered questions about their heritage, and presented a cherry-related dish to a panel of taste-testers, a salute to the host festival that left Paye both impressed and a bit chagrined.

Candidates for queen might not cook, but they're expected to acquire cherry expertise. Being interviewed is part of not only the selection process, but the duties.

"The powwow has been important to us for decades," Paye said. "But I had no idea it was as intertwined."

Nobody had mentioned it. Then again, nobody had asked.

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Taking a long-delayed seat

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds are slated to roar above the festival at 1 p.m. Sunday, the centerpiece of a three-hour air show. Come Saturday, there's a parade, a pickleball tournament and fireworks.

The events along Grand Traverse Bay come in waves, and so do the responsibilities.

There's a carnival, a Princess Tea with cherry queen Olivia Coolman and her court, cherry pie eating contests, a performance by the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, a kids' pet show and an adult cherry pit-spitting contest, "and that's just Monday," Paye said. "You've got eight days."

She can't be everywhere. But sometimes, she has decided, she needs to be present.

Coolman will relinquish her crown on Friday, then prepare to start a Ph.D. program in physical therapy at Grand Valley State come fall. She delayed school for a year to sign a contract and take on the duties of cherry royalty.

The Wiigwaasmin Pageant winners are children, and their duties aren't as structured. They're asked to attend powwows when they can, TwoCrow said, and when they do, "they get to dance with honor behind the color guard."

Their main responsibility, she said, "is to make sure they walk the path of our ancestors."

Paye is eager to see them take their first steps, to savor the tom-toms, the colors, the rituals, the singing and the passion.

There are probably lessons in what will finally bring her to sit still for four full hours. Communicate, appreciate, validate. But the key is something everyone knows already.

Sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses, and while you're at it, listen to the drums.

Reach Neal Rubin at NARubin@freepress.com, or via Twitter at @nealrubin_fp.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: A first at the 2023 National Cherry Festival in Traverse City