Powwow is on for the Great Northern Fair

Plans for the Northern Winz Casino Powwow at this year’s Great Northern Fair have fully crystalized and the event is now scheduled for July 17 and 18 featuring participants in full Native American regalia, singing, dancing and food.

Northern Winz Hotel and Casino Gaming Commissioner Rebekah Jarvey said putting events like this together, even under considerable time restrictions, is old hat for her and Northern Winz Marketing Director Old Bull and everything went well this time as well, with space being the only major limiting factor.

They said the event is open to anyone one in the community who would like to attend native or otherwise and they hope it will be a symbol of unity that will bring Rocky Boy and Hill County closer together as communities.

Jarvey said possible attendees should know that while it may be tempting to take pictures at the powwow ceremonies, it can be considered disrespectful to do so without at least asking the permission of participants before doing so, and offering some kind of compensation to them is considered good form.

Registration for the event will start at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 17, with grand entry at 1 p.m., a break at 5 p.m. and a second grand entry at 7 p.m., with another Sunday, July 18, at 1 p.m.

Russell Standing Rock, Thomas Limberhand, and Kenneth “Tuffy” Helgeson will be the masters of ceremony at the event.

The event will also feature the American Legion Post 67 as the Color Guard, as well as special guest Vincent Short.

Short is a young social media influencer from Fort Belknap who became known through the Facebook group Social Distance Powwow, which sought to fill the gap left in the lives of Native Americans who were unable to have the events amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected them more severely than most other ethnic groups.

Jarvey said Short, through his skills at singing, grass dancing and comedy, has uplifted many people through his work online and as a local he’s an obvious choice for the event, especially for younger generations.

“Everyone was greatly affected by the pandemic,” she said, ”... but it really affected (young people) in ways that adults don’t understand or may not think about.”

In a previous interview Jarvey talked about how much the lack of powwows in the last year and half have affected Native communities given their significance as cultural traditions.

“It’s been really hard because it’s such a big part of our way of life,” she said. “... Spiritually it has affected a lot of people.”

Jarvey said she and Ree Old Bull are excited to see things come together for the event, which will feature traditional native dances and art as well as a pair of special events.

The first of these will be a men’s grass dance sponsored by Andrew Windy Boy and his family with a $1,000 winner-take-all prize.

And the second will be a hat and boot men versus women dance sponsored by the NWC Powwow Committee with another winner-take-all $1,000 prize.

Old Bull said the hat and boot competition will feature people from around the state dressed in cowboy or cowgirl clothes instead of their Native American regalia, which he said has become a popular trend in powwows across the U.S.

He said the event will feature food provided by the casino, but the Indian Tacos will be the main event in terms of food.

”The star here is the Indian Tacos,” Jarvey said.

While Old Bull and Jarvey have both said the event is meant to inspire unity and celebrate, there is cause for some solemnity in the wake of the pandemic and recent news from Canada.

In the past few weeks unmarked graves of hundreds of Native American and First Nation children have been discovered at the sites of former residential schools in Canada.

Residential schools like the ones where these graves were found, some of which were run by the Roman Catholic Church, were part of a century-long campaign of forced assimilation which the Historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada concluded was tantamount to cultural genocide.

The residential school system was in place until 1996.

Jarvey said that after the first grand entry, a memorial song will be performed for the families affected by COVID-19 and in the memory of the Native children recently found in these unmarked graves.

She said she’s glad these things, painful though they may be, are coming to light.

This memorial song will be followed by an honor song to celebrate the passing of the pandemic.

More information about the powwow can be obtained by calling Jarvey or Old Bull at 406-390-6575 or 406-399-1700, or by following Northern Winz’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NorthernWinzCasino .

People interested in becoming vendors at the event can call Great Northern Fairgrounds Manager Frank English at 406-390-3675, but Jarvey said slots are going fast.