Festival meet and greet sees record turn out

Written By: Meredith Johnson

(MUSCOGEE NATION)  The 2024 Muscogee (Creek) Nation Festival saw the return of many beloved events and activities. High on that list was the Principal Chief and Second Chief meet and greet. The event was hosted on Saturday, June 22, and allowed festival goers a chance to cool off in the Mvskoke Dome and get a one on one with Chief Hill and Second Chief Beaver. 

Read this story on Mvskoke Media here. 

A bbq sandwich lunch was provided. Attendees also received a take home tote. The event also coincided with the Festival’s health fair, which offered citizens an opportunity to learn about health and wellness services. Raffles for prizes and giveaways also punctuated the event with MCN Press Secretary Jason Salsman acting as emcee. 

The event saw a large turnout as both the health fair line and the meet-and-greet line wound out of the court and through the lobby of the Mvskoke Dome. The event had a record turnout and according to Secretary Salsman had well over 500 attendees. 

Asked what he enjoyed about the festival and the meet and greet, Principal Chief Hill shared, “Citizens coming in that first time coming. They just enjoy it, getting to meet us, but to me it’s to meet them. And you know it’s just growing.” 

It was estimated that 8,000 people attended the Thursday evening activities at the Claude Cox Omniplex. The attendance and growth has put expansion on the minds of leadership. 

Second Chief Beaver shared the highlight of his festival experience was meeting citizens from all over the country. He said, “My Festival has been awesome so far. It just seems like every year, you know, we get a little bit bigger and bigger and bigger. Visiting with everyone. Florida, San Antonio, California, I mean just everywhere. The farthest was Seattle.”

Principal Chief Hill and Second Chief Beaver also spilled the beans on their favorite festival food. While Principal Chief Hill listed Indian tacos, meat pies and three-inch thick cowboy burger as favorites, he also goes traditional with festival food. “It just depends. I mean what do you want? You just can’t pick one. But, if they have traditional food, safkef or cvtvhakv, stuff like that, I would say that’s my favorite,” he shared. 

Second Chief Beaver had a more dialed-in approach to festival fair. While Indian tacos and fry bread were mentioned, meat pies are his particular preference. He shared, “Indian tacos, they’re always kind of hard to eat whenever you’re kind of on the move so I always got to have a meat pie. I had one Thursday after the stomp dance.” They don’t have to be hot though, he shared that his favorites are made with ground beef, a little onion and spices. “You know, some people like cheese. Keep it simple.”