New rides revive reconciliation efforts

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) -

2022 saw the end of the Dakota 38 + 2 memorial ride that ran for 18 years. that saw riders travel from South Dakota to the Dakota 38 + 2 memorial site in Mankato on horseback.

After a year off, a new effort has been born to follow in those footsteps.

Two new rides, the Makatoh Reconciliation Ride starting in South Dakota and the Dakota Exiles Ride starting in Nebraska will both land in Mankato the day after Christmas, at the same place and time the original ride did, along with a run that begins from Fort Snelling at Midnight Christmas night.

“I got to talk with the dreamer a lot and stuff and he’d say that the ride needs to go on,” said organizer of the Reconciliation Ride Wilfred Keeble.

While the number of people in each ride is lower than the original Memorial Ride, leaders of the new effort say that they’ve seen support in places that they never have before.

“All through the ride the communities we came across gave a lot of support. It builds a good support system,” Keeble said.

The Reconciliation Ride was welcomed through New Ulm by police escort, and the riders are staying in New Ulm until the final stretch of the journey.

The riders’ stay in the area is supported by a group of volunteers who all believe in and want to support the goal every ride is striving for: Reconciliation.

‘When we heal something today we heal the wound seven generations back and seven generations forward. So I just feel like a little peon in this, a pebble in this river of healing,” said volunteer organizer Colleen Hokenson.

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