Mohegan ― U.S. Treasurer Lynn Malerba has been back home in southeastern Connecticut this week, tending to some of the mostly ceremonial duties associated with her “other job” ― chief of the Mohegan Tribe.

She plans to return to Washington after this weekend’s Wigwam Festival at Fort Shantok, the tribe’s annual celebration of its culture. For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-day event will be open to the public.

“It’s a very special time for us,” Malerba said Wednesday in a phone interview. “Originally a harvest celebration, it’s always been a time to celebrate, to keep up our traditional ways. We always want it open to the public because we want the community to understand our history, who we are, and to share our joy.”

Last year’s festival was open to Mohegans and members of neighboring tribes while the year before that, it was limited to Mohegans.

The theme of the festival, which is free, is the “Healing of the Bear,” a symbol of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual recovery among many Native American tribes. The festival will feature the sale of Native American foods and crafts ― pottery, jewelry, medicine bags, braid wraps, deerskins and furs ― as well as dance competitions. It will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with complimentary shuttle service running between Fort Shantok and off-site parking at the Thames Garage and the Sunrise Square bus lobby at Mohegan Sun.

A main attraction will be the Grand Entry at noon each day when tribal members, dressed in regalia, dance into a huge tent. Mohegan elected officials and ceremonial leaders enter first, followed by other Mohegan tribal members, oldest to youngest, and then the members of other tribes. Those inside the tent keep dancing until everyone is inside.

“It’s really quite spectacular,” Malerba said. “It’s a very big tent.”

She noted that the festival once functioned as a fundraiser as well as a cultural celebration. Mohegan archives from the 1930s and ’40s tell of tribal members selling pies, crafts and chowder in support of tribal government. As recently as the 1980s, festival organizers charged admission, a practice that stopped once the tribe opened Mohegan Sun, securing its economic viability.

Malerba, who turns 70 Thursday, was sworn in as U.S. treasurer last September. In that role, she is heading up the Treasury Department’s newly established Office of Tribal and Native Affairs ― and also lending her signature to currency produced at the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. She also oversees the U.S. Mint and Fort Knox, and serves as a key liaison with the Federal Reserve.

She was elected Mohegan chief, a lifetime position, in 2010.

“It’s been nice to have my feet on Mohegan land,” Malerba said of her visit during the tribe’s Cultural Week, which began Sunday. She said it’s a time for tribal members living outside Connecticut to come home and reconnect with the tribe and some of its traditions. On Thursday night, a graduation ceremony is planned for tribal members graduating this year from high schools and colleges.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com