photo by: Mike Yoder

The relocated Iⁿ’zhúje’waxóbe is pictured Friday, April 12, 2024, in Allegawaho Heritage Memorial Park just southeast of Council Grove. In the background is the park’s Kanza dance arbor used for intertribal powwow dances and activities.

A “rematriation celebration” will take place Saturday at Allegawaho Memorial Heritage Park, the new home of the 28-ton red quartzite boulder that was returned to the Kaw Nation in 2023.

The celebration of Iⁿ’zhúje’waxóbe (pronounced “EE(n) ZHOO-jay wah-HO-bay”) will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the park, South 525 Road in Council Grove, during the annual Washunga Days festival.

Iⁿ’zhúje’waxóbe previously sat in Lawrence’s Robinson Park after being taken from the Kaw’s traditional homelands nearly a century ago and made into a monument to Lawrence’s white settlers. Kaw Nation and Lawrence leaders worked with a project team to arrange for a return, which came to fruition in August 2023. The prayer rock has been installed near Council Grove since March.

As part of the rematriation effort, new elements at the park in Council Grove — including a new open-air welcome center and restroom facilities — are also currently under construction and slated to be open to the public by this fall.

More information about the project is available at sacredredrock.com.