Williams Lake First Nation is appealing to the public in hopes of finding the owner of a jingle dress.
The jingle dress and a button blanket were found in a suitcase acquired by the owner of Station 99 Market, the new and used treasures business that burned down on March 27, in Williams Lake.
乌鸦传媒淲hen they opened the suitcase, it rang some alarm bells, and they did not feel right about putting it on their shelves as regular pieces of merchandise (prior to the fire),乌鸦传媒� WLFN marketing and communications manager Brandon Hoffman told the Tribune. 乌鸦传媒淭hey didn乌鸦传媒檛 know what to do with it, so they reached out to Chief Willie Sellars, and he said, 乌鸦传媒榊ou are totally right about that, let乌鸦传媒檚 try and find the rightful owners.乌鸦传媒櫸谘淮綕
Once Sellars had the items, he passed them on to WLFN Coun. Dancing Water Sandy, who is also a maker of regalia and knows the protocols.
She cleaned the items, gave them a smudge and blessing to try and send them off into the world, Hoffman said.
Sellars then passed them to Hoffman to try to find the owner.
乌鸦传媒淭hey sat in my office for a while, kind of staring at me from across the room until I could find a day that I didn乌鸦传媒檛 have higher priorities on the menu," Hoffman said.
Finally, in the first week of August, Hoffman had some time to do something.
He said he carefully pulled the dress and blanket out of the suitcase and was attempting to lay it out on a table to take some photographs.
When Fran Supernault, who works with him, saw what he was doing, she jumped in to help.
乌鸦传媒淪he乌鸦传媒檚 a powwow dancer and maker of beautiful things as well,乌鸦传媒� Hoffman said. 乌鸦传媒淪he said, 乌鸦传媒榊ou need a mannequin to really show that off.乌鸦传媒櫸谘淮綕
Supernault ran home, got her sewing mannequin and brought it to the office so they could make a staged photo set for the jingle dress, blanket and suitcase.
He posted the photograph on Aug. 5, and then left to do some video work with the WLFN stewardship group in the woods.
A couple of hours later, he saw the post had exploded and the community had rallied behind it.
And, within two or three hours, they had already found a home for the button blanket.
乌鸦传媒淚t was this lovely lady named Nadine Brown who lives in Bella Bella,乌鸦传媒� Hoffman said. 乌鸦传媒淪he said the piece had kind of gone off with a family member about seven years ago and had been trying to work angles to get it back and had almost given up.乌鸦传媒�
Brown told him it was made 15 years ago by a relative and designed by another relative.
乌鸦传媒淚 think she乌鸦传媒檚 quite excited to have it back," Hoffman said.