The Winnebago Veteran's Pow Wow is one of the oldest continuous Pow Wows in North America. The event commemorates the return of Chief Little Priest and the Fort Omaha Scouts, Company A, Nebraska Volunteers of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. Our friend Bob Uhl, who runs the Midwest PowWows blog, attended the Pow Wow this July and this is his recap.
The Ho-Chunk Nation rocked the Powwow scene this weekend as 323 dancers descended on Veterans Memorial Park in Winnebago Nebraska. This was a homecoming for me as a veteran, and an honor, as 55 years ago my grandfather, Yellowhorse, took me to my first Powwow at 5 years old in this very park.
With 147 Powwows under their belt, this nation ran this celebration with precision. Between the humor & direction of MCs Randy DeCora, Chris Grizlik and Boyd Ladd along with arena director Pete Snowball Sr., there wasn’t time to take a breath between contest dances or intertribal. Nice work gentlemen! As we know, there are many more behind the scenes that work hard to make this flow smoothly. Great job everyone.
Twenty-year-old Craig “Tunny” Cleveland led the way as head man dancer. Craig has lived in Winnebago his whole life, graduated from Winnebago Public School and is a sophomore at Little Priest Tribal College. Tyla Morris, Jr. Miss Nebraska Winnebago & Sr. Miss Nebraska Winnebago led the way as head woman dancer.
There were many new faces, as well as veteran dancers from the Powwows around the Midwest with lots of competition. Judges called for ‘one more song’ several times in several categories to break the ties.
The heartbeat of these Powwows is always the singing & drumming of several groups; Haylush ka, Maza Kute, Southern Boyz & Buck Wild, HuJope, Whitetail, Whitetail Boys, just to mention a few, kept everyone dancing.
This was a great Powwow & if you’ve never been you need to attend this one. One of the great parts, as there were many, was that everyone was smiling, very cordial & very welcoming from the little ones to the elders. Thank you Ho-Chunk nation for this blessing & letting me witness your culture & traditions.
Doksha – Bob Uhl
