Saginaw Chippewa tribe hosts summer kickball cookout at Broadway Park

Broadway Park became a summer meeting ground for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe when the SCIT Youth Council paired a cookout with kickball and invited residents and guests to bring a side dish. The June 22 event ran from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Broadway Park in Mount Pleasant, and the tribe’s homepage flagged it as a same-day item marked “Today!”

The gathering fit neatly with the Youth Council’s mission, which is centered on healing the community through community activities, education and traditional values. It also matched the broader tone of the tribe’s June 22 announcements, which placed kickball alongside other youth-friendly offerings such as summer reading and a mini golf outing. In that setting, kickball was not just a game but a low-barrier way to get families out for an evening together without the demands of a league schedule or a full roster.

Broadway Park was built for exactly that kind of use. The tribe describes it as a multi-generational park with play and fitness pieces for the whole family, custom concrete play elements, panels of the Seven Grandfather Teachings, fitness stations and shaded resting areas. Its rules also underscore the tone of the space: the park is for community residents and their guests, with no drugs or alcohol allowed, and no fires, weapons, fireworks, pets or horseplay.

The kickball night also carried real tribal history behind it. A 2015 flyer promoted a Summer Kick-off Kickball Game that brought community youth together with the Tribal Police and Tribal Fire Department, and a later Tribal Observer item described a second summer kickball installment at Broadway Field involving the Police, Fire and Housing departments. That pattern helps explain why the format has lasted: it is simple, inexpensive and flexible enough to bring together children, parents and tribal staff in one place.

The Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police Department, formed in 1976, now includes 27 sworn BIA and MCOLES-certified officers, 11 FLETC-certified dispatch and corrections personnel, and two administrative staff. Its Public Safety Building opened in February 1996 and houses police, fire, dispatch, detention cells, a training room and tribal court, showing how closely public safety and community life have long been connected in these summer gatherings.