Women's prison powwow

Some of us went in to the women's prison saturday for a powwow, which turned out okay after a problem getting in. It seems that no one had told the guards at the front we were coming that day. They worked it out, though, so we went ahead.
The ladies did know we were coming, and had lots of plans. They had drawings for prizes, a tug of war (the rope broke, but it was fun anyway), and two potato dances (if you don't know what that is, pairs of people try to keep potatoes between their foreheads while dancing to the song, last ones with a potato win).
We did several round dances, intertribals, a two step, and a couple of specials.
The ladies really got into it, I think we helped their spirits a lot.
We have practice friday, but not much coming up right now.
I'll try to get something interesting up soon.

Pimitoui Powwow

I was very pleasantly surprised at the powwow last weekend. After hearing a number of rumors of doom and gloom, it turned out really good. There were a decent number of dancers, especially saturday afternoon, including at least one of all the eight major styles. There were also several gourd dancers, which is always nice. Quite a few spectators also showed up, and they seemed to have a fine time.
After hearing that only a couple of vendors would be there, a number more showed up, and looked like they were selling. To top it all off, the weather was absolutely perfect, clear and dry, not too hot or too cool.
There was exhibition dancing saturday afternoon, and that evening a really fun snake dance and buffalo dance. Only two drums started (Eagle Ridge and Spirit of the Rainbow), but later a drum from Arizona set up (I can't remember the name, it was Navaho), which was really neat.
All in all, a fine powwow. It shows that there is still a lot of support for this powwow in the community. If they can solve a few problems (no guarantee,I know), Return to Pimitoui could have a bright future after all.

Pimitoui this weekend

I don't have a lot to talk about today. The Pimitoui powwow is this weekend, I'll try to get a report up on it sunday or monday.
Powwows.com has some great coverage of the Red Earth powwow. They had over 1000 registered dancers in the competition! I'd love to go there sometime.
Also, a local PBS station has been showing Ken Burns series on the settling of the west. If you haven't seen it, it is very sympathetic to the Indians viewpoint.
Don't forget practice friday at Ellen's, I'd love to see more people there.