2 SEPTEMBER 1, 2004
Pow-wow 2004
2004 Grand Ronde Contest Pow-wow Successful, Despite Weather
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Fancy The Grand Ronde Annual
Contest Pow-wow has become one of
the premier Native celebrations in the
Pacific Northwest, attracting hundreds
of dancers from all over the United States
and Canada, like these Women's tradi
tional category dancers (left) photo
graphed on Saturday and this young
fancy Shawl Dancer (above).
By Ron Karten & Peta Tinda
Rain was one of the big sto
ries at this year's Annual
Contest Pow-wow. On Satur
day afternoon, the dancers moved into
the Tribal gymnasium and vendors
showed their expertise at manipulat
ing plastic sheets to keep out the rain.
By Sunday afternoon when the sun
had come out again, vendor spaces were
empty here and there and one over
heard vendor said, "Everyone else left
but we stayed."
For some, the rain had killed what
ever business they had hoped to do
during the weekend, but not all were
disheartened.
It was "great anyway" for Cameron
Blagg III, who represents the artwork
of Cameron Blagg, his father. He had
packed a lot of framed art and sculp
tures into the center of his booth to
keep it from the rain, but plenty still
decorated displays at eye-level.
"I met people this weekend whose
grandparents and parents have col
lected my father's work, and now
they're collecting it," he said.
"It's not as good as when everybody's
outside, but it's ok," said Margaret
Place of Salem, a vendor selling arts
and crafts made mostly by inmates.
"Pow-wows are much more receptive
to inmates' art," she said.
Dancers came from all over to par
ticipate. Nathan Mitsuing (Cree) from Loon
Lake, Canada came for the men's
Grass Dance. He was headed to Con
necticut next.
Westlee Witcraft (Klamath) came for
the Traditional dances with his cousin,
Gary John (Klamath), and they were
headed for the Klamath Restoration in
Chiloquin the next weekend.
"If they can get a ride (to a pow-wow)
somewhere, they're gone," said John's
mother, Candi Kirk (Klamath).
Tribal member Joann Mercier, who
works for Spirit Mountain as a Human
ResourcesSpecialist, said on Saturday
afternoon that she had never seen so
many dancers. "It makes me really
proud to see so many dancers," she said.
However, when dancers and audi
ence crushed into the gymnasium to
avoid the rain, some of the sentiment
changed.
"It's way too crowded," said Tribal
dancer Harris Reibach.
Asked for something positive about
being inside this year, Reibach's fel
low dancer, Tribal youth Joey Holmes,
said, "No rain."
Asked about dancing on the gym
floor, one dancer said, "It's always dif
ferent dancing on a gym floor."
Cynthia Old Person traveled from
Warm Springs to meet her two daugh
ters at the pow-wow. She said that
she like how the Grand Ronde Pow
wow is so close to the beach and was
hours from Phoenix, Arizona, where
she works as an Administrative As
sistant for a Tribal Police Department.
She and her two girls J'Shen and
Jacinta are Traditional dancers and
said they came back for the feast.
Wm I ' 1 tame
' three years
ago ana tney
had salmon,
so we came
back," she
said, referring
to the free din
ners served
for guests dur
ing the pow
wow. For Linda
A 1 1 e n b y
(Cherokee), a
veteran from
Salem, the
Tribe ought to set up a booth to help
Indians trace their Native American
heritage.
Cory Johnson of White Swan said
that he had been coming to the Grand
Ronde pow-wow so long he "kind of lost
count."
r v &
it V !' VL
Tribal Veteran Steve Rife
looking forward to going afterwards.
"And I also came for Black Lodge,"
she said. "I really like the drum selec
tions here; they all get a chance to sing.
Well probably be back again next year,
especially if Black Lodge comes this
way."
Virgie Tsosie drove her van for 20
He and his sister Kayla were both
competing in the Teens Fancy Dance
category. "Top prize is $700, but I'm
looking to get $500."
He said that the pow-wow was a
little smaller than last year, and that
no, it had never rained before.
The pair is on the pow-wow trail all
summer long, driving hundreds of
miles and attending a new celebration
each weekend.
In other news gleaned from this
year's pow-wow:
Tribal member Brad Leno is taking
college courses, according to his dad,
Tribal member Lonnie Leno.
Nancy Holmes reported that her
husband, Tribal member Tim Holmes,
spent the weekend smoking salmon
and eel; and that she is busy writing a
memoir about her mom's early life in
a logging camp in Wisconsin, where
her grandfather was foreman.
Caught at the Housing Authority
booth, Holmes also noted, on a busi
ness level, that four people who had
received down payment grants stopped
by to say thanks.
Terri White recalled the time the
family took her 95-year-old mother-in-law,
Antonia White originally from
Austria, who immigrated here through
Ellis Island at the age of 17 to a
pow-wow. After posing with a hand
some dancer or two for a picture, she
discovered that they gave her a big hug
and kiss afterwards; so she started
posing with every good looking dancer
she could find.
Cameron Blagg III retold a reminis
cence that a Yakama Tribal member
told him earlier during the pow-wow.
It was during an initiation some 40
years ago marking the boy-to-warrior
transition. It came after the boys sur
vived 30 days on their own in wilder
ness. One of the last parts of the ceremony
was to run the gauntlet allowing the
women of the Tribe to give the boys
one last smack before adulthood,
whether with their hands or with
sticks, as Blagg told it; and the Indian's
friend had a club foot and couldn't
make it through the gauntlet, so the
Indian turned and went back to help
him through; and the Medicine Man
stopped the gauntlet and said that the
Indian had taken enough blows, going
forward and now backward, and in the
end, both boys became warriors that
day. j
"You can read history books," said
Blagg, "but to hear it from people who
went through it, that's pretty cool. It
keeps us alive in a small way."