Several dozen residents gathered at the ANB Hall for the Indigenous Peoples’ day, held Oct. 9 for food, dance and song. Dishes included baked coho salmon and herring eggs sent from Tlingit and Haida Central Council. Until 2015, the date was recognized in the state as Columbus Day before the legislature voted to rename it to honor the country’s first peoples. “The event itself is a day that we now have legally to stand and honor our people in a way we’ve never had before,” said Skeenyaa tlaa, one of the event organizers. “We come together with food, song and dance, to hold each other up.” But she said the day is just one of a year-round lifestyle and traditional diet that many Indigenous people still live by and don’t need permission to celebrate.