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Heart of Our Youth community Pow Wow to become annual event

Jun 21, 2018 | 2:00 PM

Roused by the success of the recent biennial event, the organizers of the Heart of Our Youth Community Pow Wow have announced the gathering will now happen every year.

Liz Settee, head of the pow wow committee, said the strong community response was a big driver behind the decision. There was also a desire to keep the momentum going following a highly successful inaugural event.

“Everybody throughout the day was [saying] ‘You have to do this every year,’” Settee said. “We decided by the end of the day, let’s start looking for next year to see what we can do and how we can get it done.”

She said schools were sent surveys asking to how organizers could improve the event, and every respondent said they would return for annual festivities. Part of the reason the Heart of Our Youth Community Pow Wow was so successful was the size and diversity of the crowds, Settee said, who braved rain and wind to attend.

“We had newcomers up there, we had daycares up there, we had seniors’ homes up there, we had street people up there,” Settee said. “That’s what community should be, is everybody coming together.”

She said the organizing committee is looking for sponsorship from local businesses to continue their success from the first year. 

Mayor Greg Dionne attended the pow wow and led the Grand Entry along with other dignitaries from around the region. He said the numbers alone made it an easy decision to allow the pow wow committee annual access to Kinsmen Park for the event.

“We were hoping to get 750 people there, and if you go by the numbers, the [Northern Lights] Casino served over 1,200 hotdogs,” Dionne said. “There was easily more than 750 there.”

The mayor said the event was a good way to include youths in reconciliation, something Dionne said he sees is missing from the overall push to repair relations with Indigenous people in Canada.

“I believe if we teach our kids tolerance and respect early, then they carry it onto their adult life,” Dionne said. “To see the kids there interacting and getting up and dancing and being shown the different dances, it was just a great event.”

Settee said the community event will take place on the Friday after every May long weekend. The second Heart of Our Youth Community Pow wow is already scheduled to take place at Kinsmen Park on May 24, 2019.

 

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas