Welcome to the city, Joāt Park
Andrew Morales, known as Guiding Young Cloud within the Gabrieleno-Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, prepares a blessing Wednesday at the Joāt Park rededication. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo
The City of Claremont hosted a ceremony Wednesday to rededicate Cahuilla Park as Joāt Park.
The Claremont City Council voted unanimously in October 2023 to rename the park “to honor the legacy of Claremont’s earliest inhabitants and generations of Indigenous people that have called Claremont home,” according to a post at ci.claremont.ca.us.
“In 1962, the park was originally named for the Cahuilla people, who were believed to be the area’s earliest inhabitants at the time,” the post read. “While the Cahuilla and Serrano people resided in the area, more recent research shows Claremont’s first inhabitants were the Tongva. The park is being rededicated with the name Joāt Park to more accurately reflect history and honor the legacy of the Tongva/Gabrieleno people. The name Joāt refers to Mount San Antonio/Mt. Baldy as the place of snow.”
Adella May-Garcia Valenzuela of the Gabrieleno-Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, right, receives a blessing from tribal member Andrew Morales during Wednesday’s rededication ceremony at Joāt Park. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo
(L-R) Claremont Community and Human Services Commission chairs Dirk Silva and Brisa Sifuentes, commission member Nancy Brower, City Council member Ed Reece, Mayor pro tem Corey Calaycay, Mayor Sal Medina, city council members Jennifer Stark and Jed Leano, Gabrieleno-Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians tribal secretary Kimberly Morales Johnson, and UC Riverside Associate Dean and Director of the University Writing Program Wallace Cleaves at Wednesday’s rededication of Joāt Park. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo
A new plaque at Joāt Park was unveiled Wednesday. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo
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