Cherokee Memorial Day Powwow

[eap7]

Well I don't know how this dancing on concrete thing will work out, but I booked my hotel today. So...see some of you there maybe? Come say hi so I can put a face with a username!

[Jussme]

Hey dudes I think da grand entry times are 7pm on Friday, 1pm & 7 pm on Sat. and 1pm on sunday

[suthernwaterbird]

so its 3 days as in fri sat sun...or monday 2..because some mem day powwows include monday....and does contest start friday night for drums?

[Jussme]

Yup its just Fri, SAt, n Sun...Idk bout da drum contest tho.

[John Wesley]

You reckon singing groups will be able to register/add singers to their rosters' on saturday morning if the song contesting starts on friday?

[walmart ndn]

Well its official people. This powwow has been completely run into the ground. What used to be a purty good lil powwow has turned into nothing more than a show for the tourists. It MAY get better tomorrow but i seriously doubt it. This has always been a 2 day powwow & the powers that be made it 3 days just to make money, which judging by the crowd tonite i dont think they did. And im glad.

Personally i think it has been done on purpose over the last few years so they can have an excuse to get rid of it. But thats just me. The dancin on the concrete stage has got to go.

Anyone ever see the dancin chicken at the local fair or carnival?...LOL!!!

If anyone would like to complain, PLEASE call or email the following people :

George Lambert...(828)[email protected]
Loretta Kirby.......(828)[email protected]
Mary Ferguson....(828)[email protected]

They would love to hear your complaints, ideas & thoughts...LOL!!!

[timmy tiger]

Walmart--didn't they cancel the pow wow several years ago for a year or two and then decided to bring it back. I was there several years ago and then I didn't make it the next year and I was told by someone that I know there that they didn't have it that year. I saw what you are talking about last year at the July pow wow. But I still like to watch those who at least try to do it--that's rough I do know that.

[kontest kritik]

walmart iz p.o'd haha!! i just checked it out too, and with about 40-50 dancers grand entry took about 10 mins. ha! if i had an outfit i could easily get in somewhere.at least most of the dancers will place haha! i relly dont see what the fuss about the concrete is, hollywood- concrete/ red earth- concrete/tampa-concrete/uh lets see thats just a few of many that are on concrete. it is rough on the body though ,but it is on any surface if u dance hard. hopefully the "committee" gets a reality check and works to improve this once decent powwow. anyway the drums are: stony creek, kotano jrs.sp?, birdtown crossing,gabe bullock gots a pick-up crew, soldier creek s.-host, awohali-n.-host . i think that was it, they all sound smooth though, so if anybody, no, please anybody come on to cherokee and b gelling haha if u do! at least the drums are good. oh yeah registration closes at noon tomorrow! im thinking about heading to lawrenceville ,ga. i know, im going to see if they will take the powow there too!! haha!! combined it would then b apowow not show. haha or i could recruit all the street dancers here, that might give the powow 60 dancers then.

[Okwataga]

Our family is supposed to hold the men's fancy dance special for the 4th, hope we can move them down to the ground instead of hte concrete stage????

heard there were very few teen dancers.....

[timmy tiger]

Hi Okwataga.

If everything works out on the 13th, I will be in Cherokee, should be for sure, for the pow wow on the 4th. YAHHHOOOOOOO and hopefully it will be on the ground and not on the stage. That's so much easier on the dancers.

[Okwataga]

so who all came?
did you have fun?
what would you have done different?
will you come back for the 4th of july?

[CloudN9ne]

one question who all won?

[eap7]

Well I have to say that people's warnings about the concrete...were right. I met/saw some other powwows.commers who mentioned this thread too. Kind of funny. I flew home yesterday and was sore on the plane, and today my legs are still sore. Can't imagine how the "higher impact" dancers feel...wow! I've danced on concrete before but never went to a powwow on a stage. It was a pretty small powwow...on Fri. there were maybe 20, 25 dancers and about the same number of spectators. Very empty in a big ampitheatre. It got somewhat bigger, especially with spectators on Sat. and Sun. The tribe did try to be hospitable- gave out free water bottles, dinner on Sat., and had lots of specials. But in the end, the MC's constant remarks about "thanks for coming to Cherokee and spending your money here" kind of showed the powwow's priority and put me off. It was an expensive trip. It was also an unnecessarily long powwow for so few dancers. They didn't have any need for Friday. I think the MC felt bad that so few people showed up, because he kept saying "we're going to take it easy on our dancers today. Some of them just drove 18 hours. Some of them just got in an hour ago". There were just exhibitions on Fri., but then what was the point of dancing then? I don't think I'll be back to the powwow, although its a beautiful area and I'd love to come back and rent a cabin to relax sometime.

[eap7]

I'd also say that the biggest change suggested is...move it to the turf area! It seems like it should be there because it would be in the middle of the vendor circle. I know there are powwows on concrete or on rinks. Sometimes they put down area carpets (thanks NMAI National Powwow) to make it better. But it is a bad idea to have it on a concrete stage if you have a better area right in front of the stage. Yes, there's all those amphitheater seats for spectators, but it was never filled up. There weren't that many spectators to necessitate having it on stage. And if you lose dancers because of the location and still keep it there, that's just too bad.
So...put chairs for spectators around the turf and have the powwow there!

[ndnMSW]

So no one knows the winners?????