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Mohegan

Convention-goers enjoy immersing themselves in world of make believe

Mohegan — Those entering Mohegan Sun’s Expo Center this weekend were greeted with storm troopers and immediately immersed into another world, one where people of all ages can dress up as their favorite movie, TV, and comic book characters.

Mitch Hallock, the owner and producer of “Terrificon,” said it felt good to be back after last year’s event was canceled due to the pandemic, adding that he took organizing this year’s event “day by day.” Masks were optional at the convention.

Hallock has organized conventions since 2012, and Terrificon has been at Mohegan since 2015.

“I’ve loved comic books since I was a kid and had a talent for organizing and event planning, so I combined the two,” he said.

Doug Smith from Keene, N.H., was experiencing the convention world for the first time as a seller rather than a spectator, helping the owner of Enterprize Comics, Etc. sell comic books.

Smith said he was amazed at the networking and the connections made between people with common interests. People go to the booth looking for a specific book and end up sharing their stories.

“You make a new friend,” said Smith. “It might be a five-minute friend, but it’s still a friend.”

People traveled from in and out of the state to make new friends and see some of the many celebrity lineups and products the convention has to offer.

Stefania Sassano from Milford was at her first comic book convention. She was cosplaying as Rogue from X-men.

For Sassano, dressing up as Rogue was not a once-a-year occassion. She dresses up often, gaining close to 10,000 followers on Tik-Tok.

At the convention, Sassano got the opportunity to meet Michael Golden, the co-creator of Rogue. She said he complimented her on her costume and signed her comic book.

Big fans of conventions, Jason and Anna Ruiz traveled from Long Island. The two were gazing at a wall of Funko Pop figures. Jason…

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Lenni Lenape

Lenape Indian descendants return to Paterson’s Great Falls with a history lesson

Ed Rumley  |  Paterson Press

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The Great Falls of Paterson

A historical video spotlighting the history of the Great Falls of Paterson, NJ.

Michael V. Pettigano, NorthJersey.com

Paterson is well known as being the first industrialized city in the history of the United States. However, long before Alexander Hamilton put his stamp on the city, a group of Indigenous inhabitants, the Lenape Indians, called what is now North Jersey their home.

The Indian Heritage Festival held at the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park on Saturday and Sunday marked a celebration of the history, culture and ceremonial practices of the Delaware Indians, the modern-day descendants of the Lenape Tribe. 

Traveling all the way from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and led by their grandfather Curtis Zunigha, siblings 15-year-old Cayla Magee and 19-year-old Riley Magee were joined by their mother, Erica Magee, to offer a visual presentation of their heritage through educational lecture, the wearing of traditional and contemporary garb and native tribal dance. 

With the magnificent rush of the Great Falls in the background, Zunigha addressed the crowd of over 200 people on Saturday at the historical national park’s outdoor amphitheater.

“We are so proud to be back at the original home of our ancestors,” Zunigha told the crowd. “The Lenape originally settled in what is now the foothills of…

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Mohican

Mohican’s scenic beauty and wildlife make it one of Ohio’s top attractions

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

LOUDONVILLE — Thousands of wooded acres greet visitors to the Mohican region. Mohican State Park’s wild landscape offers truly stunning views from both land and water.

Clear Fork Gorge, Lyon’s Falls, and the Mohican State Scenic River are just a few of the must-sees for adventurers. Overnight accommodations include a modern full-service lodge, large family campground with pool, deluxe vacation cabins, and a primitive camping area with stream-side sites.

Nearby Pleasant Hill Lake, which is managed by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, offers boating with no horsepower limits. A portion of the lake is no-wake speed, enjoyed by paddlers and anglers alike.

HISTORY

The Mohican State Park area was once the hunting grounds of the Delaware Native Americans, whose more famous warriors included Janacake, Bill Montour, Thomas Lyon, and James Smith. Smith was the first white man to come to this area after he was captured by the Native Americans and later adopted into their tribe. Several Delaware villages were also located in the Mohican vicinity.

European settlers began arriving at the turn of the 19th century, but settlement did not increase until the Native Americans were driven from the area after the War of 1812. John Chapman, immortalized as Johnny Appleseed, frequented the region during the 1800s, caring for his apple tree nurseries.

His name and the date, carved into the wall of Lyons Falls, were an attraction for years. Unfortunately, the etchings have been worn away over time.

Prior to 1949, most of the area that comprises the present state park was part of Mohican State Forest. The forest lands were administered by the Ohio Division of Forestry. In 1949, when the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was created, Mohican and several other state parks were developed from existing…

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Nanticoke

‘Some incredible players here:’ Table tennis tournament takes off at Keystone Games

NANTICOKE — The air was filled with the unmistakable sound of ball hitting paddle as the Keystone States Games Table Tennis tournament provided fast action and high drama at the Nanticoke Table Tennis Club on Saturday.

Jack Livingston, the club’s director, said that the club had been open since the early 2000’s, and that the action is always intense when games get going.

“We’ve been in a few different places, we used to be at Odyssey Fitness,” Livingston said. “We have some incredible players here today.”

In all, 23 table tennis competitors signed up for the Games, with a large contingent of them hailing from the Lehigh Valley, all with matching brown Lehigh Valley Table Tennis shirts.

Competitors were separated into age brackets, and the tournament also included doubles and mixed doubles competition in addition to the singles portion of the event.

The Table Tennis Club’s Line Street location isn’t overly large, but the small confines made for a remarkable atmosphere as the tournament got underway Saturday morning.

Four tables were set up in the middle of the room, with room for a few spectators along the back wall and to the side of the room. That way, the players had plenty of room to maneuver and get deep off the table in order to provide themselves an extra split-second to react to an opposing shot.

The action was mesmerizing, to put it one way — rallies that extended on and on, impossible-looking shots from crazy angles and some serves that didn’t seem to be in line with the laws of physics.

Havertown native Frank Roth competed on the first table, losing his first match of the day in a hard-fought contest.

“I’ve been playing for something like 46 years,” Roth said….

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Delaware Tribe

Native Americans press for the reburial of ancestors and return of cultural items

Curtis Zunigha remembers shedding tears when he heard the age of one Native American whose remains were part of a reburial ceremony in Ohio several years ago.

It was a girl, 11 when she died. Her young age, which reminded Zunigha of his granddaughter, along with the girl’s inclusion among the many Indigenous people throughout U.S. history who experienced indignities such as being moved from their homelands, left him shaken.

“I was emotionally distressed,” he said during a recent telephone interview.

Zunigha, cultural director of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, said the experience illustrates the long-lasting effects of the country’s history and the ongoing importance of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, which was passed in 1990. The law mandates that institutions receiving federal funding return Native American remains and cultural items to tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.

The Delaware Tribe of Indians expects the remains of nearly 200 ancestors to be reburied at the Pennsbury Manor near Philadelphia in the fall and thousands of belongings to be returned.

Nationally, there are almost 200,000 human remains of Native Americans that have been identified under the law, according to the National Parks Service. Remains have been uncovered in all 50 states and are now on display in museums, in university labs for anthropology research and tucked away in boxes in the back of closets across the country.

The Department of the Interior in July announced new proposed regulations for the protection and repatriation law to clarify the process as well as take the burden off tribes to initiate and complete the required steps. The federal government is consulting tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations about the new proposals and will open them for public comment in October.

The Delaware tribe has been working for…

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Mohegan

Comic books are still king; After two years, Terrifcon returns

MONTVILLE, Conn — The pandemic caused a pause but, after two years, the comic-con style event known as “Terrificon” has returned to Mohegan Sun. 

It is among the first convention shows to happen at Mohegan Sun’s exhibition hall since the COVID-19 crisis took hold in 2020. Cosplayers, comic book sellers, super cars, and booth after booth of TV and movie memorabilia filled the exhibition hall for the first day of Terrificon. 

Mitch Hallock, the producer of Terrificon said, “this is three days of pure geek love, it’s like Woodstock for nerds.”

With Covid-19 numbers beginning to rise, Hallock mentioned that the show staff and Mohegan Sun team are  implementing caution. Hallock said, “we work with Mohegan Sun and the Tribal Health Department and the State Health Department as well.” Hallock added that masks are mandated for unvaccinated visitors while those who have the shot can choose to go without a mask.

Participants at the Terrificon show were excited about being back amongst friends and fans. 

Representing the 70’s kids TV show “Land of the Lost”, veteran actor Wesley Eure remarked he hadn’t had a chance to take part in events like Terrificon since the pandemic broke out. “It feels like we’ve come out of a deep slumber,” said Eure. “We are hoping we can continue this so please get vaccinated so we can all enjoy this together,” he added.

Hallock remarked , “I haven’t had this in my life for two years, it’s like being home again – it feels like being home.”

To learn more about Terrificon click https://www.terrificon.com/

Terrificon

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Lenni Lenape

‘We just want to be welcomed back’: The Lenape seek a return home

We wrote this story based on responses from readers and listeners like you. In Montgomery and Delaware counties, what do you wonder about the places, the people, and the culture that you want WHYY to investigate? Let us know here.

More than 1,000 miles from his ancestral homeland, Curtis Zunigha’s gravelly voice managed to drown out the incessant static of a phone line.

All the way from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, you could hear Zunigha’s passion for the countless stories he carries with him of his people, the Lenape.

“I’m preserving in a dynamic way our culture and our history and our traditions, so that I could pass that on to a younger generation and they can keep going, because that’s our obligation to the creator and to the ancestors, for the gift of our culture and our language and our knowledge of who we were and who we are,” he said.

Zunigha is an enrolled member and cultural director of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, one of three federally recognized tribes of the Lenape in the United States — none of which are currently located in their original homeland.

The Lenape, whose name means “the real people,” are indigenous to the Delaware Valley. From parts of New York and eastern Pennsylvania to New Jersey and the coast of Delaware, the Lenape lived in this region for thousands of years. Those relatively newer place names are products of the same colonization that violently uprooted the native people from the area once known as Lenapehoking.

A headshot of Curtis ZunighaCurtis Zunigha is an enrolled member and cultural director of the Delaware Tribe of Indians. (Courtesy of Curtis Zunigha)

How the Lenape ended up displaced from their homeland…

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Mohican

Lauren R. Stevens | Hikes & Walks: SCA working to make Cold River trails more accessible

The Plainfield-based Student Conservation Association (SCA), part of AmeriCorps and Massachusetts Service Alliance, has returned to the Cold River stretch of the Mohican-Mohawk hiking trail. A joint effort last November, with the Berkshire Natural Resources Council and the Manice Education Center, reopened the trail, which had been strewn with blowdowns. Now the task is to improve the treadway, including bog bridges.

The Cold River, which drains numerous ponds in Savoy, flows 12.6 miles until it joins the Deerfield River, just east of Mohawk Trail State Forest. Motorists heading east down Route 2 from the junction with South County Road in Drury, follow Manning Brook until it joins the Cold. Its valley includes many large and ancient trees.

The trail begins at a new parking area, just to the north of South County Road, off of Route 2 by Brown’s Garage. The trail makes a leisurely, then steeper descent to the banks of the Cold, for a 3-mile round trip. For some hikers it’s perverse to start out down and finish heading up, but variety is good.

This segment is in Florida State Forest, an entity that is generally included with Savoy Mountain State Forest on maps. From the trailhead, a brief walk leads to an intersection. For Wheeler Brook and Mohawk Trail State Forest, go straight, as the sign indicates. As yet there is no sign for your route. Turn right to cross Route 2 very carefully, follow the shoulder uphill a bit for an easier step over the guardrail at the white blazes. Cross a footbridge.

Cross another. SCA built these bridges 12 years ago as part of new trail construction. A sign gives you 1 1/2 miles to the Cold and 5 1/3 miles to Savoy Campground. SCA has smashed rock now to create stone chips to harden the surface of this…

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Nanticoke

A most joyful gift to the Nanticoke Indian Museum

For more than 50 years, I’ve collected Native American artifacts from powwows, craft fairs and the annual holiday market at the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

My enthusiasm stems from the fact that my great-grandmother was the first white woman to settle in Steele County, Minn., and in my teen years, I spent summers at Red Pine Camp for Girls in Minnocqua, Wisc.

One of my favorite childhood trips was attending the outdoor performance of the “Song of Hiawatha” based on Longfellow’s poem and held in Pipestone, Minn. It closed after 60 years, but half a million people saw the pageant, which began in 1948. Thus, it is no wonder that I was fascinated by the lore, history, stories, crafts, art, sculpture, music, dances, fashion and culture of the Ojibwa, Chippewa, Salteaux and others of the Anishinaabe people in the northern Midwest.

And you can imagine how thrilled I was after moving to South Bethany in 1973, that the nearby Nanticokes — one of the two tribes in Delaware (the other being the Lenni-Lenape) — had their own annual powpows and eventually a museum in nearby Millsboro.

But now that I face the challenge of downsizing, I am coping with what actor Harrison Ford listed as one of his goals for 2020 when he recently admitted to Parade magazine that “I want to finally get rid of half the things I’ve accumulated in my life and organize everything. I’m trying to get rid of stuff. It might be useful to somebody else.”

And I’ve discovered that the real secret to parting with things one dearly loves is to find a home where others will take great joy from my collection as well.

The Nanticoke tribe has 550 members in Delaware but 1,500 in the U.S. The Delaware…

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Mohegan

Brantley Gilbert Set To Perform At Mohegan Sun Arena

Press release from Mohegan Sun Arena:

July 26, 2021

Celebrated by The Washington Post for his “deafening Country Rock that has earned him a loyal fanbase,” truth-teller Brantley Gilbert returns to the road this summer, connecting with BG Nation at venues across the U.S. Brantley Gilbert stops at Mohegan Sun Arena with special guest Mitchell Tenpenny on Thursday, September 16th at 7:30pm.

Tickets are $79.00, $59.00 and $39.00 and on sale today, Friday, July 23rd at Noon via Ticketmaster. Tickets are also available at BrantleyGilbert.com.

The Georgia native recently released his latest single “The Worst Country Song Of All Time” with his friends turned collaborators Toby Keith and HARDY, and the parody-driven track is already climbing the charts at Country radio.

Earlier this year, Gilbert held his inaugural trail ride with partners including Polaris, Gander Outdoors, Camping World, Brimstone® Recreation, Traeger Grills, Whiskey Jam and Appalachia Made Co., raising $75,000 to benefit ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund to support those in the entertainment industry who lost work due to the pandemic.

Gilbert continues to raise funds for the philanthropic arm of the Academy of Country Music with the “Garage-full of Awesome Giveaway.” Fans who donate $10 or more will be entered to win a once-in-a-lifetime trip to meet Gilbert in person for a trail-riding adventure; a RZR Trail S 1000 Ultimate in Ghost Gray, courtesy of Polaris; 2021 Heartland Fuel 362, courtesy of Camping World; and $5,000 cash. Donate HERE.

This press release was produced by Mohegan Sun Arena. The views expressed here are the author’s own.

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