Wewoka Chamber & Business Directory 2020 | Page 10

Page 10 - Wewoka Chamber Directory 2020
TAKEN FROM BARKING WATER
INDIAN TERRITORY COOKBOOK
T
SORGHUM DAY FESTIVAL
he Wewoka Sorghum Day Festival began in October of 1976 when
Paul Dodd, a prominent Wewoka citizen, donated a nineteenth
century sorghum mill to the community. Rotarian Dr. Claude B. Knight
suggested having a festival to celebrate his bygone way of syrup making. The
festival is held on the fourth Saturday in October of each year.

Preparation for Sorghum Day begins a year in advance with the growing
of the sorghum cane. The cane is planted, maintained and harvested each year
by local citizens, and it is grown especially for Sorghum Day. The volunteers
begin working in the autumn of each year; they till the soil right after the last
cane crop is harvested. In June, after a second tilling and fertilizing in the
spring, the soil is ready for the sorghum seed to be planted. One hundred and
ten days later, or about a week before Sorghum Day, the cane is stripped of its
leaves and cut.

The highlight of Sorghum Day is the processing of the sorghum, which
occurs on the grounds of the Seminole Nation Museum. Two mules harnessed
to a pole turn the mill, which crushes the pulp to extract a sweet, yellow-green
juice. This juice is pumped into a stainless steel pan, then is cooked over a
wood fire for an hour and a half. The juice turns into a black-brown syrup
which was used by Oklahoma pioneers as a sweetener and was favored over
maple syrup.

Other displays during the day include fry bread making, sofkee making,
hide tanning, blacksmithing, flute making, basketry, wood carving, bead
working, Seminole Indian patchwork making, and finger weaving. We also
have re-enactors along with a chuck wagon set-up, and other 1800’s pioneer
demonstrations, including the Seminole Indian exhibition stickball game and a
Powwow. Also, the Seminole Nation Museum is open to take a walk through
Wewoka’s rich history since it’s founding in 1866.