Elders from both the Kansas and Oklahoma Reservations are planning attend. One of the elders who had greatly appreciated the first event, Lucian McKinney, passed on to the next world last year. However, a plaque will be dedicated in his honorat this year's pow wow, and twenty-five of his relatives plan to attend . A former tribal chairman, John Kaskaske, will come in from New Mexico, and he'll be able to see his own words carved the site marker: "As a people who honor their elders and ancestors and believe in preserving tribal ways, the Kickapoo feel the land in Illinois is something to treasure."

The dedication of the stone monument, which bears John's tribute on one side and a brass plaque with the list of sixty original supporters of the Kickapoo Park on the other, will be held on Sunday morning.

Programs throughout May and early June at the local Children's Museum, Mulberry School and the McLean County Nursing Home will prepare the public for the many cultural facets of the event.

All who attended the Homecoming of the Kickapoo Nation Pow Wow in 1998 will recall the joy of welcoming the people home. Everyone is invited to taste the victory again this year.