National Powwow in Danville Illinois thoughts...

[Chebon]

I was wondering what other people who attended thought about this past weeks National Powwow in Danville, Illinois...

[luvstraightdancrs]

We were there and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We were treated very kindly by all parties involved, down to the service we received from Lou as our "runner". We plan to attend again, just hate the idea of waiting 3 years to do it. A very nice dance and great people.

[billyjoejimbob]

I was disappointed in the turnout and also the lack of dancing. 2 1/2 hour sessions at night only?

The traders werent doing too well either due to lack of spectators. The few I talked to or knew were pretty pissed. Did they advertise in town?

This was my 3rd one and I think it was the worst so far.

[Czechy]

I had to miss it this year and I am annoyed about that. I wish I could see pics of the craft contest entries. Those are always a treat.

Any of you think this powwow is slowly dying out due to lack of new blood and younger folks getting involved?

[billyjoejimbob]

Hey Czechy,

I think that is a problem. Expecially with alot of the non-ndn run powwows. Id say all the new blood is more interested in NDN powwows also.

I see it happening in the northeast, all the old timers ar burning out and no one wants to pick up the reigns.

As for ads, you cant advertise "Native American Powwow" if it isnt "Native American" so that is a big problem there.

It is the same thing, on a national scale, that is happening all over in smaller areas.

[powwowbum49]

I was there and got lots of visiting in with folks I haven't seen in years and made a few new friends to boot so that alone makes it a success in my book. The dancin and singin is a good thing but if you aint got the visiting and renewing of friendships at a dance then why go. Sure was nice to put faces to some names on here too.

As to attendance ... times are hard and all the dances are going to see a drop in this area. Most folks just can't afford to travel as much right now.

[billyjoejimbob]

There was some visiting on my part too and that is always good.

You would think that since gas prices are high, why not charge less for the powwow. People are driving in from around the country at $4 per gallon and then have to pay to dance and camp. It cost me and my wife $38 to tent camp for 2 nights. Granted if we pre-registered it would have been a little cheaper but we didnt have a clue what our schedule was this year. We planned on going to Prairie Island on fri and sat but it didnt work out.

I didnt even notice if they charged spectators, maybe that is the key. Charge the spectators a small fee, like EVERYWHERE else, and lighten the load on the dancers.

But I think it still comes down to advertising. With good advertising, everything else will end up free.

Or would they rather run it like a family camping event?

Does NPW lose money, break even or profit?

(Im sorry I missed your roach presentation but 9am was a bit too early)

[powwowbum49]

I wasn't thrilled at 9 AM either but that is when they had it scheduled. I did one the day before at noon on mocs and had about 40 people in attendance. I agree the costs seemed high, but in their defense the camping fee was not put out there by the committee. It is something that goes to the fair ground's and not the powwow so they mandate it will be collected and most all fair grounds are doing it now. The fair boards even send folks out to count the the tents and campers themselves and charge the committee for their counts and not they groups registration. The fair grounds are trying to charge groups using their grounds for camping at rates that high-end family camp grounds, with lots of amenities, charge. It is stupid and greedy of these 4 H groups but they have people over a barrel so why not take advantage of them.

There were spectators but not a ton of them, and I have no clue how much advertising was done. I know the dance made front page for at least 2 days in a row in the local newspaper. It was hot and sticky so that could have affected attendance too. I do know that as of Thursday participant attendance was 1/2 what it had been at the previous NPW and that was coming from the folks handling registration. Gas and it's effect on cost of living just got the better of folks. I know tons of folks (that live close) that said they could not afford to take a Weds and Thurs off to powwow this time. Most showed up on Friday but some not at all.

My understanding is that it will not be held at those grounds again since the fair board had made no improvements to the grounds in the 3 years since the last time the dance was held. The new chairman was talking about 2 sites in Tennessee and one in Indiana. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

[luvstraightdancrs]

Like I said before, we were there and had a grat time. Yeah, gas is gonna factor in on your attendance.....we just finished Otoe and Tulsa Pow-wow - not nearly the people as in the past.....when you have to decide between paying bills and eating or filling up the car to pow-wow.....it'sa no brainer for most.

Although we hadn't been there before, we had a good time. Met alot of new people, added faces to names and were treated very well. Every committee is going to have some issues, but I know I have never been to a perfect dance. Something is always not appealing to everyone. I felt it was run very well, with or without advertising. There were more folks there than I thought would be.

Maybe they need some more workers or volunteers for the next one.........maybe some new blood..........new ideas on how it "should" be done.

[travelingmocs]

Good day folks. I was keeping a eye on the post and figured I better add my two cents in, since I was part of the committee. The dance was down this year, and there were many factors, gas, the price of food and other everyday things. As far as the price for camping, the committee is not totally responsible for that. Look at the fact the fair boards are the one charging people for the camping and electricity. If it were up to us, it would all be free like the old days. I will add this, there has been a new insurgence of new people who want to keep NPW going and I am one of them.

I am not sure will the next national powwow will be, but there will be another one and we will work to make it the best we can. I will past on the comments on here to the new chairman, and we will do our best to address peoples concerns.

Nita Kola

[TWDBear]

I was wondering what other people who attended thought about this past weeks National Powwow in Danville, Illinois...

I was there for the dancing and tipi competition.
This was my 5th NPW.
I danced on Wed and Thursday nights and completely enjoyed dancing to Cozad. They're an awesome drum. (The last time i danced to them, was when they were in Cherokee NC for a July 4th dance several years ago).

I really enjoyed meeting up with old friends and making new friends, sitting around, talking, etc.

Wed and Thursday night's Grand Entries had over 400 dancers each night. I don't remember the numbers on Friday or Saturday night because i didn't dance due to effects of the high heat and humidity on Friday.

Since i stayed in a tipi, all i paid was for non-pre-registered fee. To stay cool at night, i ran two small Coleman battery operation fans and to stay bug free, i slept under mosquito netting over the bed.

If they were to have had more of the portable showers, that would have been nice.

I didn't buy much there. Purchased a NPW 14 t-shirt, a dvd on Straight Dancing, a couple of books, and that was about it, besides some onsite food. I would go offsite each day to eat at an air conditioned eatery.

I enjoyed the workshops on the US flag in beadwork, parfleche and roach making.

I don't know if the crowd was up or down this NP but i do know a lot of people came out to the tipi camp, looking into tipi's and going in where invited.
There were several tv stations out there on, i think it was Thursday afternoon, taking shots of various artists there, dancers, singers, tipi's, etc.
I brought back a copy of one of the local newspapers about the powwow (front page).

Personally i prefer the Crescent City IL location, than the Danville, IL location. Danville IL seems to be hotter, more humid, and more buggy. And there was no onsite location to dance under roof, so there weren't as many dancers during the afternoon sessions and the Saturday night dance session was moved to a gym about 10 miles away. Heard the gym was not air conditioned, so it was quite warmish there.

There's a river right next to the Danville IL location, so that increased the bugs and humidity. Also with the site surrounded by trees, the wind was prone to be blocked. Friday afternoon, we were sitting around and could feel the humidity and temp. change from moment to moment. It would change from a nice cooling breeze to a stiffling humid dead air.

Heard the new powwow chairman is to be Chris Bryant.

If it's held at Danville IL next time, i'll have to think about going back.
Of course after NPW 13, i swore i would never be back at that location again, but after three years, i went back for NPW 14 and better prepared for the heat and bugs (fans, netting, shower bags, etc)

I think a lot of people didn't buy a lot of stuff because of the economy.
The cost of gas, imo, played a definite role in people not making the trip. My fuel costs were almost double of what they were back in 2005.

[nativedancer5]

I use to go as a kid in the 70s all I can remember is that there were white buildings was that in Danville??

[swink49]

I wonder if there are just fewer hobbs? Maybe all the bashing is wearing on folks. There is a ton of time, money and effort involved. When you get the cold reception from the people that own this as part of their culture maybe many are re-evaluting where they place their efforts.

[TWDBear]

I wonder if there are just fewer hobbs? Maybe all the bashing is wearing on folks. There is a ton of time, money and effort involved. When you get the cold reception from the people that own this as part of their culture maybe many are re-evaluting where they place their efforts.

While it's possible, i don't think so. It's true many "hobbs" are getting older but there's younger people growing up and becoming involved as well.

I've never had any problems from Indians who belong to federally recognized tribes. Then again, i don't try to claim to be Indian either. I'll continue being the "token white guy".

I have had problems from pseudo Indians who have discovered their g-g-g-grandmother was a Cherokee Princess, or these pseudo Indians gain a little knowledge and think they know all there is to know and they want to beat everyone else down who isn't just like them.

I'm from Tennessee where we have an over abundance of fake Indians (psuedo Indians, some who will even create a fake family tree to include an Indian).

Tim