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Cultural celebration

Virtual powwow set for P.A. and area

May 26, 2021 | 1:11 PM

The Heart of the Youth Community Powwow runs Friday, May 28 and the online spectacle will be held in conjunction with Prince Albert Community Powwow Day. It will get underway at 9:45 a.m. and the sponsors role with the powwow beginning at 10 a.m.

The Heart of the Youth Community Powwow originally started in 2018 but had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. According to Liz Settee, who is an elder for P.A. Outreach and Community they did not want to lose ground by missing another year.

“This year we had the tent but with the numbers and the way it was going we knew we couldn’t do it in person again. So the committee decided we can’t lose the momentum of the powwow,” she said.

The committee got creative and decided to take the powwow virtual for this year. It will be a new venture for the organizers and the participants with footage covered by Big Drum Media. Not only does going virtual allow the powwow to continue, but Settee hopes it also has the potential to draw a larger crowd being broadcast on PA Outreach Youtube or CBYF Prince Albert Youtube.

“The nice thing about YouTube is people can pause it and go back to it or watch it another time, so it’s not just the one day. It is going to be there,” she said. “It is going to expand further than Prince Albert and surrounding area. That is my hope and the hope of the committee as well.”

The Heart of the Youth Community Powwow will be held on the same day as Prince Albert Community Powwow Day. The last Friday of May each year has been officially set into the City’s calender agreed upon at city council’s February meeting and Elder Settee was overjoyed with that decision.

“My heart soars,” she said. “This is huge of the city. It’s huge for Truth and Reconciliation.”

Not only can people participate by watching on Youtube, organizers have partnered with Mann Art Gallery. Three hundred little ribbon skirts and shirts have been made and are being given out to families to participate in the event. Anyone can pick up a skirt or shirt to be worn the day of the community powwow. People can contact Mann Art Gallery, which opens 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., to arrange a pick up. There are limited quantities and are to be picked up before Friday.

panews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow

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