Indigenous Peoples Days, a four-day celebration of history, culture and tradition, starts Friday, hosted by the local Tsi-Akim Maidu. An opening cere- mony will be held at 6 p.m. Friday at Union Street in downtown Nevada City with the dedication of a new grinding rock. At 7 a.m. Saturday, spirit runners will carry a speared salmon from Parks Bar Bridge near Smartsville to Bridgeport, where elders will conduct the traditional renewal ceremony of Calling Back the Salmon. A feast of wild salmon will follow. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday is a day of celebration, dancing, drumming, food and healing at the Maidu Active Cultural Center at Burton Park on Lake Vera Road. The site features traditional bark houses and a new outdoor amphitheater. At 9:30 a.m. next Monday at the Miners Foundry in Nevada City is a day of discussions about mercury in the water and healing soul wounds created with the Gold Rush. The day will conclude with a feast of wild salmon, wild elk, buffalo stew and other traditional foods.

To volunteer, call 272-5994; for more information, call 265-0711 or visit online at www.indigenouspeoplesdays. org or www.callingbackthe salmon.org.