Photos: 2015 Elders and Youth Conference

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Tehya Yate, 3, looks out towards the audience during a Tlingit "Honor Song" where attendees were invited to cross the stage while singing and dancing during the closing ceremony of the First Alaskans Institute Elders and Youth Conference at the Dena'ina Center in Anchorage on on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015.

The lead-in to this year's Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage opened Monday with Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and Gov. Bill Walker giving an alternative name to the federal holiday on which it began.

At remarks opening the Elders and Youth Conference, Berkowitz signed a local proclamation declaring the second Monday in October -- on which Columbus Day is traditionally celebrated -- as Indigenous Peoples Day.

"The more we can do to strengthen the ties between the communities that make Anchorage and make up Alaska, the better," Berkowitz said Monday morning.

Conference attendees responded to the mayor's announcement with loud applause and foot stomping.

Liz Medicine Crow, president and CEO of the First Alaskans Institute, which hosts the Elders and Youth Conference, praised the change minutes after Berkowitz announced it.

"This distinction is really massive because now we're leading the nation, here in Alaska," Medicine Crow said.

Read more: Elders and Youth Conference opens to renaming of Columbus Day in city, state