galesburg powwow a question

The dates I gave for the Galesburg powwow are no good, it was the same weekend as Starved Rock and no one wanted to compete. Right now no date has been set, and I have no idea when it might be. I will say more as I learn more.
We had a good powwow in the men's prison the weekend before last, mostly we just sat around the drum and sang, everyone else just listened and socialized. We took in our big drum this time, we hadn't used it in over a year but it still sounds great, with unbelievable volume. Two of the prison's drum singers are leaving soon, including one of the most important. We will miss them, but they get to go home. We all wish them a lot of luck, and hope we don't see them soon, if you know what I mean.
Nothing much coming up soon, until May when powwow season kicks in. It looks like Pimitoui is going to be held this year, which is great news. We all need to support this powwow, and keep it going. We've lost too many already.
Rosa had her baby finally, a boy, over 9 pounds. Congratulations, Scott and Rosa! Looks like we've got a new singer down the road.
Also, I finally got a computer working for Dinah, she will be able to get email now, call one of us for the address.

it's been a while, some bad news

I know it's been quite a while since I put up a post, I went on vacation, then work got bad for a while, and I managed to lose a post I tried to put up. I hope to do better in the future.
Before I get into news about the group, I have some bad news.
This monday Ken Funmaker,Sr. passed over. Ken was the head of the Ho-Chunk Bear clan, and was the main person trying to reestablish the Ho-Chunk Hayluthka, their formal war dance. He was very active in powwows in Wisconsin and northern Illinois, and often attended the White Bear Hethushka. He will be missed.
This saturday, March 8th, we will be going into the men's prison for their powwow. We did the women's the saturday before last, and had fine time. We messed up and went in on visitation day, so a lot of the ladies couldn't make it, but we had a good number anyway, including a few new people. We had two potato dances, round dances, intertribals, and everyone had fun.
Jim Sanderson is working hard on the powwow near Galesburg, right now it looks like it will be at the Knox County fairgrounds the weekend before Memorial day weekend.
We're working on a lot of new songs, we hope to have some good new ones by then.
Larry Cooper lost the place he'd hoped to have the Bald Eagle days dance next January, but he's not giving up.
On a political note, I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, but a group is trying to get the Illinois smoking law amended to allow pipe and smudge ceremonies indoors at native events.
Everyone ought to support this, it's basic religious freedom.