Have a look at some of the Videos taken at the 1st annual Spirit of the People Pow Wow.

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Novice Grass Dancer - Dion Weisbrod (Tzeachten First Nation) .wmv

1st Annual
"Spirit of the People" Pow Wow
Prospera Centre, Chilliwack, BC, CANADA

GRAND ENTRY
FRIDAY AT 7 PM
SATURDAY AT 1 PM & 7 PM
SUNDAY AT 12 PM (ONE SESSION ONLY)

MASTER OF CEREMONIES:
GERALD SITTING EAGLE OF SIKSIKA, ALBERTA &
NELSON LEON OF CHEHALIS, BC
ARENA DIRECTOR: ZACK CAILING
HOST DRUM: EYA-HEY NAKODA
WHIP MAN: LEWIS POINT & LESLIE JOE

Special invited guests of the Spirit of the People Pow Wow, experience Kwakwaka’wakw cultural sharing…songs and dances.

Kwakwaka’wakw Dancers at BC150 Celebration, Xa:ytem Interpretive Centre, Mission BC.  September 21, 2008.

July 10, 2009

Stó:lō Tourism Commission and Talking Totem Tours

New Partnership to Deliver Aboriginal Experiences!

SOS (Save our Stó:lō Artisan Centre) By taking a bus tour to the Spirit of the People Pow Wow on July 24th, 25th & 26th you can help support a new home for the Stó:lō Artisan Centre.  Talking Totem Tours has partnered with the Stó:lō Tourism Commission to offer a bus tour to the 1st annual Spirit of the People Pow Wow event with half the profits going directly to the Stó:lō Artisan Centre to fund-raise for relocating to their new home. 

This is a rare opportunity to attend a significant cultural event, leading up to the 2010 Games, in Chilliwack BC, one and a half hours east of Vancouver.  The 6 hour bus tour has pick-up & drop-off downtown Vancouver and is accompanied by an expert First Nation Interpretive Guide. 

The Pow Wow will showcase for the first time, West Coast Drumming, through a new category of hand drums, the West Coast Hand Drum Contest.  The event incorporates a Princess Pageant and a Native Artisans' Market that will host over thirty five artists at the indoor concourse.  A Feast for the Eyes as you witness hundreds of First Nations dancers from Canadian and US Tribes.  Visitors can look forward to a gastronomic adventure of traditional cuisine with Junes' bannock, Indian tacos, the sweetest tasting Chilliwack corn, barbecued, smoked and candied salmon, Indian teas and Indian ice cream.

The six-hour tour is $49 per person ($39 for Elders and children) and includes admissions, First Nation guides and return transportation between Vancouver hotels and Chilliwack, BC.  A discount will be given for booking a whole bus and for attending all 3 days. The tour leaves Vancouver July 24th, 25th and 26th daily at 11:00 a.m. and return departure at 5:00 pm with central pick-up & hotel drop-off. 

For more information & to reserve your spot contact Audry at info@talkingtotemtours.com or 604.989.2897   Seats must be purchased ahead and there are discounts for organizations that are able to book an entire bus (52 seats) 

Media Contact:

Paula Cranmer-Underhill, Manager    T. 604-824-5276    C. 604-845-0311      Scf.paula@shawcable.com

Resurrecting the spirit of local powwow

Cornelia Naylor, Special to The Times

Published: Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Carol Cailing has been powwow dancing for 18 of her 20 years.
Until two years ago, the Chilliwack Pow Wow marked the start of a summer season she spent travelling around the powwow circuit in the United States and Canada.

"You build up a whole powwow family," she said. "I only get to see them at the powwows, so that's what I like."

When the long-established Chilliwack Pow Wow was cancelled in 2007, she was devastated.

Although she continued to compete, she lost the chance to showcase her own community.

On July 24 to 26, all that will change with the First Annual Spirit of the People Pow Wow.

"I'm really excited," said Cailing.

After running for 15 years, the Chilliwack Pow Wow was cancelled when two key organizers, Steven and Gwen Point, took on new responsibilities as lieutenant-governor and chatelaine of Government House in Victoria in 2007.

"They were the backbone of the powwow," said Peter Prevost, a director with Spirit of the People who was heavily involved in the organization of the Chilliwack Pow Wow from beginning to end.

Organizers took a year and a half to regroup as the Spirit of the People Cultural society, and the Spirit of the People Pow Wow was born--with a few improvements.

"The venue is going to be the big crowd pleaser, for the dancers and the spectators," said Prevost of the powwow's new venue--Prospera Centre. "The seating is more spectator friendly and dancer friendly because it's air conditioned."

Dancing, drumming and singing are what powwows are all about.
Originating with aboriginal groups on the North American plains, modern powwows are diverse gatherings that draw participants and spectators from a host of aboriginal groups for traditional dances and music.

"It's a good community gathering," said Cranmer-Underhill. "It's a healing path for a lot of people."

Particularly awe-inspiring to powwow newcomers is the grand entry that marks the beginning of the event.

From a single entrance, a line of dancers in colourful regalia spiral toward the centre of the floor until up to 400 dancers fill the space, dancing in time to the host drum.

"That is one of the most amazing things you'll ever see," said Prevost. "All the dancers are dancing in their spirit, and it's just very powerful and moving to see. It's spectacular."

Although traditional powwows are held for the sheer joy of dancing and drumming, contest powwows, like the Spirit of the People Pow Wow, also award cash prizes in a number of categories.

Cailing's speciality is jingle dancing and last year she walked away from the Muckleshoot powwow near Auburn, Washington with $1,000 of prize money.
"People say I have good feet work," she said. "I'm always dancing around the house trying to think up new moves I can do during the summer coming up."
When she's not competing, Cailing enjoys the drum contests.

At the Spirit of the People Pow Wow there will be a big drum and a hand drum contest.

Big drums are played by groups of six to 12 men who drum and sing traditional songs. Some groups achieve celebrity status via the powwow circuit and YouTube.

Resurrecting the spirit of local powwow

Cornelia Naylor, Special to The Times

Published: Tuesday, July 14, 2009

"Northern Cree are like rock stars in my world," said Cailing of one such group.
The hand drum contest features a single singer.

"One person gets up there with their little hand drum, and then they go and sing a couple of verses of a round dance song," said Cailing. "Some of them are real sweet songs, real love songs. Some of them are real funny songs. It's cool to see what the singers come up with."

Another fixture on the powwow circuit that will be featured at the Spirit of the People Pow Wow are the vendor--artists that make drums, silver jewelry, masks, regalia, homespun and woven cloth, dolls, carving knives, medicinal creams and a host of other products.

"We've got all kinds of people coming out," said Cranmer-Underhill.
Unlike some other ceremonial gatherings, like the longhouse, powwows are open to the non-aboriginal public with no invitation necessary.

Talking Totem Tours is even offering a fully-guided bus tour to the powwow from Vancouver for $49 per day ($39 for kids and seniors) including admission.
For others, admission is $10 per day or $20 for the whole weekend.

"Everybody should go and check it out," said Cailing who has been passing on her skills and some of her old regalia to her 13-year-old cousin.

"It will keep our culture going if we keep getting our youth into it," she said.

- For more information about the First Annual Spirit of the People Pow Wow, visit www.stolotourism.ca.