(LYTTON) Canada’s Hot Spot will be cooking with music, dancing, drumming and a very special moment of reconciliation during the New Pathways to Gold Society’s (NPTGS) 10+ Anniversary Celebrations.

The festivities in the traditional territory of the Lytton First Nation (LFN) include performances by the Barkerville Players, First Nations drummers and dancers and an all-star cast of talented, veteran Aboriginal musicians performing a benefit concert for wildfire relief.

“This is a celebration of all we’ve achieved with our partners in helping build local economies in First Nations and non-First Nations communities along the Gold Rush/Spirit Trails corridor,” said NPTGS First Nations Co-Chair Cheryl Chapman.

“We’ve been building for over a decade and we’re looking forward to doing even more in the years ahead.”

The NPTGS 10+ Anniversary Celebrations also feature a trade show, “Partners Along the Pathway,” with displays, gold panning demonstrations, performances by the Barkerville Players and of course, cake.

A major highlight of celebration is the Chief Cexpe’nthlEm Recognition and Reconciliation Storytelling Circle, marking the 160^th anniversary of the critical moment in B.C. history when Chief Cexpe’nthlEm of the Nlaka’pamux Nation ended the Canyon War of 1858. Chief Cexpe’nthlEm negotiated a peace treaty with H.M. Snyder, an American militia captain that prevented the conflict from escalating and spilling over into U.S. territory.

Descendants of Chief Cexpe’nthlEm and Captain Harry Snyder will participate, as will traditional knowledge keepers, drummers and dancers from the Nlaka’pamux and other First Nations. Plans to renovate the memorial to Chief Cexpe’nthlEm will be unveiled at the event, which takes place at the Parish Hall in Lytton, commencing at 4:30 p.m.

“This promises to be a very powerful moment of reconciliation, which is what New Pathways is all about,” said NPTGS Co-Chair Terry Raymond. “If it weren’t for the courage and wisdom of Chief Cexpe’nthlEm, we may very well have lost the Mainland and so we see him as a co-founder of modern British Columbia.”

The story circle at will be followed by “Rising From the Ashes,” a benefit concert to assist Interior communities hit hard by the 2017 wildfire crisis, 8:00 at the Lytton Memorial Hall. The concert features veteran musicians of the “Smoked Salmon Circuit” like legendary saxophonist and Sound Tribe front man Al Stager, Ritchie Adams, Jim Billy, Big George Kirstenstein, Francis Charlie, Willard Wallace and Gordon Dick of the Baby Fatz Blues Band. Admission to this evening of country, rock and roll and blues music is by donation.

For more information on the NPTGS 10+ Anniversary Celebrations, check out the event page.