On a blustery, early spring day in March, an attentive, excited multi-generational group gathered in the community seating area at the Franklin store to celebrate the recent sale of the “Creamery” building to North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS). Darren Thompson, an Ojibwe flute player from the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe Indian Reservation in northern Wisconsin, enchanted through musical storytelling, and Spirit Kitchen at Indigenous Food Lab provided us with herbal tea and sun cookies.

Seward Co-op General Manager Ray Williams and Seward Co-op Board of Directors President Cassandra Meyer introduced Sean Sherman, Founder and Executive Director of NATIFS. Cassandra talked about the excitement of selling the building and the further development along the American Indian Cultural Corridor on Franklin Ave.

Sean spoke to the crowd of nearly 60 community members about the work reestablishing Native foodways that NATIFS will be bringing to the Seward neighborhood through the new facility, named NATIFS Wóyute Thipi.

Wóyute Thipi will be a central hub for the organization’s expanding work in Indigenous food systems and community development. It will be a multi-use building that includes the North American headquarters for NATIFS, a commissary kitchen to expand Indigenous foods to Minnesota schools and hospitals, a co-working space, and a new 80-seat counter-service restaurant called ŠHOTÁ that will specialize in Indigenous barbeque.

Sean called on the Seward Co-op community to invest in NATIFS infrastructure to support past and future growth. Financial support can be made to NATIFS via their website, www.natifs.org, and community members can look forward to patronizing ŠHOTÁ in mid-2025.

NATIFS works to cultivate the seeds of Indigenous heritage, nourish the community, and honor the land that sustains us. We know that the team at NATIFS is deeply aligned with our values and Ends, and we look forward to seeing what they will accomplish in the next chapter of the building and what it means for the neighborhood.