There was some mad scrambling over the past month, but everything has now fallen into place, and the province’s largest and longest running pow wow is set to go tomorrow at the Brandt Centre in Regina’s Exhibition Park.
The First Nations University of Canada’s Spring Celebration Pow Wow involves more than 7,000 people from all across Canada. It features about a thousand performers, from seasoned professional dancers to tiny tots, in full First Nations regalia. This is the 35th year for the event.
Normally, it is held in April — but at the last minute, a threatened strike by workers at Exhibition Park forced organizers to postpone it. A mediator was brought in and both sides have agreed there will be no work disruptions while talks continue.
Pow wow chair Richard Missens says there was lots of juggling to change dates, but it is all good to go now.
“It is, it is. We are all pretty excited. We have brought our elders in. It all starts with a pipe ceremony tomorrow morning. And you know, we have been getting a lot of positive comments from people and so we are looking forward to it.”
The celebrations begin tonight, with the first ever alumni reunion at FNUniv. The pow wow begins tomorrow at the Brandt Centre.
It will be broadcast live on Access 7. Access has been broadcasting the event for years. But this year, there is a new twist. Wade Peterson, the community programming manager, says First Nations students are helping put the show on.
“The INCA students are going to be doing the interviews for us from the floor, so that is a little bit different from what we have done in years past where we haven’t really engaged the program like we have this year. So we are really happy to get on board and they are very excited to be doing the interviews.”
The live Access broadcast will run from about 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. tomorrow. After that, it will still be available on demand.