Students and community members from around Minneapolis and St. Paul marched to Indian Mounds Regional Park on Monday to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day.

Some students chanted and others carried posters depicting messages such as “We are still here.”

The children marched to the park where a couple hundred people including Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan gathered. During the event, a proclamation by Walz was issued declaring the day Indigenous Peoples Day in Minnesota.

The second Monday in October is federally recognized as Columbus Day, but many cities and states are celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day to honor the resiliency of indigenous people rather than the Italian explorer.

Supporters of the change cite concerns that Columbus spurred centuries of genocide against indigenous populations in the Americas.

St. Paul has celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day as an official city holiday since 2015. Minneapolis made the change a year earlier.

In 2016, Gov. Mark Dayton first issued a statewide proclamation reflecting the new name.

Nina and Naomi Sky Berglund, members of the Oglala Lakota and Northern Cheyenne tribe, delivered Walz’s announcement to attendees.

“This is one step in the healing process,” Nina Berglund said. “We hope to make every day Indigenous Peoples Day.”

The sisters said they hope they can set a good example for young people in their community.

“The next generation needs to know why we are here and why we are doing this, so they can find that voice to stick up for what they believe in,” Naomi Sky Berglund said.

Throughout the afternoon, members of different tribal communities danced, played drums and sang in the park, whose sacred ancient burial mounds overlook the Mississippi River.

Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa, said to the crowd of a couple hundred people that this is not the erasure of a holiday but a reminder of the presence of indigenous communities.

“We are still here” was the theme of the day, with the message being chanted and sung by attendees and written on posters.

“That is the message of today: to show people we are still here. We have always been here and will always be here,” Nina Berglund said.

“It is a great day to be indigenous,” added her sister.