Haha Wakpadan Loopet Loppet

Loopet Loppet is deepening your connection with the outdoors!

Through new and reimagined events, we’re celebrating Dakota people, land, and traditions along Haha Wakpadan, the Dakota name for Bassett Creek. The Loopet Loppet will now be known as the Haha Wakpadan Loopet Loppet!

The newly named Haha Wakpadan Loopet Loppet will maintain our marque 6-hour or 12-hour events from previous years and help you connect you with the earth in new ways. Come solo or as a team of 4 to run or walk as many 5-mile  loops as possible.

We’ll also have a Haha Wakpadan Little Loopet for kids to walk, run, and romp!

This year, we’re also excited to be adding a new Haha Wakpadan 5k Fun Run! This untimed event is perfect for running or walking along the creek, either solo or with friends.

All events will start and finish at the Trailhead, where we’ll have an Indigenous People’s festival for everyone to enjoy. It will feature Native vendors, chefs, running groups, artists, storytellers, and community partners. Take part in sharing Dakota traditions through education, crafts and games.

By sharing these stories widely, this event aims to help to reframe the suburbs as Indigenous places and amplify contemporary Native voices.

Partners will be on-site to help us practice saying Haha Wakpadan, the creek’s Dakota name that loosely translates as “Falls Creek.” You can learn more in this 2-minute YouTube video, “How to Pronounce Haha Wakpadan,” by filmmaker Tiana LaPointe (Sicangu Lakota).  

For more Native viewpoints about the West Metro, please enjoy the Haha Wakpadan / Bassett Creek Oral History Podcast. It’s available on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Many thanks to our close collaborators, including Cultural Advisors Darlene St. Clair (Dakota), Jim Rock (Dakota), Roxanne Gould (Anishinaabe), and Bradley Blackhawk (Ho-Chunk). Support is also provided by Hennepin History Museum, St Anthony Falls Heritage Board, Niniijaanis One of Ones, ReNew Earth Running and Native Women Running.

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