NEVADA CITY, CA October 2026 – The Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe and its supporting, Tribally-guided nonprofit HUṠWEJ will gather with the broader Sierra Foothill community for the 17th Annual Nisenan Heritage Day on Sunday, Oct 11, from 12:00pm – 4:00pm, at the historic Miners Foundry, 325 Spring Street in Nevada City. The City of Nevada City joins as a co-host of this free, family-friendly community event.
This year’s theme, niṡek huṡwej – our wish, reflects a significant moment of evolution for both the Tribe and the organization supporting its work. Earlier this year, California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP) became HUṠWEJ(pronounced “hoosh-way”). HUṠWEJ means “wish” in the Nisenan language, and the new name reflects an evolution already underway as the organization grows alongside the Tribe’s changing needs and priorities.
Through niṡek huṡwej, Nisenan Heritage Day invites the community to consider the Tribe’s wish not as a single destination, but as something responsive and continually evolving. As long-held wishes take form, they create new responsibilities, relationships, and possibilities for what the Tribe can imagine next.
This year’s program brings the evolving wish into conversation through a series of presentations and panels exploring Land Stewardship, rematriation, visibility, storytelling, and Indigenous-led work.
Nevada City Rancheria Tribal Council Member Saxon Thomas will share updates and perspectives from two years of Tribal engagement in Land Stewardship, while NCR Nisenan Tribal Spokesperson Shelly Covert and BYLT Executive Director Erin Tarr will explore the responsibilities and possibilities that extend beyond the return of Land itself. Covert will also join author and artist Josh Weil to reflect on their collaboration around What Came West and the role of relationship in creating opportunities for Nisenan stories, history, Culture, and presence to become more visible within narratives of the gold rush from which the Tribe has historically been erased. Additional conversations will reflect on HUṠWEJ’s growth and emerging work for 2027, and conclude with Covert and Dr Lyla June Johnston – Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) – discussing the accomplishments, successes, and challenges of working in Indian Country.
“This event is held annually to showcase pride in Tribal presence, and non-native community’s ongoing commitment to see and listen to the Tribe,” reflected Shelly Covert, Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Spokesperson. “This year specifically, we celebrate our organization’s growth, our work towards sustainability, and the beauty that we can be authentic and unique. This is about showing up on our own terms, being part of the community and the landscape as Nisenan people – not fully assimilated – and proud.”
Nisenan Heritage Day creates opportunities for the broader community to encounter the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe as a living, contemporary Tribal community – hearing directly from Tribal voices while increasing understanding of Native sovereignty, issues affecting Indigenous Peoples, and lived Tribal experiences. The event will also include a children’s activity corner, partner information booths, HUṠWEJ merchandise, and a raffle. For more information about Nisenan Heritage Day, HUṠWEJ, and the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, visit huswej.org