Chautauqua at Old Crossing

Old Crossing:
a legendary space in time

Exactly halfway between the Red River and the Red Lake, along the shores of the Red Lake River, is a place called Old Crossing. For hundreds of years, human beings have been gathering here to trade and communicate.

French Canadian voyageurs, Metis traders, Dakota and Ojibwe warriors, American settlers, and more. All made use of an old knotted tree at Old Crossing to leave messages to one another in it like a sacred cairn.

Some years ago, a flood drove sheets of ice on the river over the shore and destroyed the message tree at Old Crossing. The 36th annual Chautauqua this August 25-27 is an attempt to carry on the message tree's tradition of servitude, inclusivity, and sincere communication.

Old Crossing Treaty Park is located in Huot near Red Lake Falls. in west central Minnesota.