The 25th annual Woodlands and High Plains Traditional Powwow is scheduled for April 26 at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse on the Minnesota State University Moorhead campus in Moorhead.
The event is sponsored by NDSU, MSUM, Concordia and Minnesota State Community and Technical College Moorhead. This year’s theme is “Many Nations, One Community.”
“The Woodlands and High Plains Powwow provides an opportunity for the Fargo-Moorhead community to engage and immerse oneself in Native American tradition, culture and the rich history it has in North Dakota and Minnesota,” said Frank Oakgrove, program coordinator for multicultural programs at NDSU.
The powwow will feature many styles of dance and drum songs from area tribes. The event also will include food and other vendors.
A new addition to the powwow will be the First Annual Hand Games tournament. The hand game is a Native American guessing game. The powwow will host an intertribal style of the game throughout the day.
Doors will open to the public at 12:30 p.m., with grand entries by participating dancers at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Admission for the event is $5 for adults, $3 for children ages 6-18 and adults 55 and over. Children 5 and under are admitted free. Quad-College students are admitted free with valid student identification.
The head female dancer is Quinn Goodwin-Chaffee, a 20-year-old student at M-State in Moorhead and a member of the White Earth Nation. The head male dancer is Brandon Adams, 23, a junior at MSUM majoring in graphic communications and a member of the White Earth Nation.
Clifford Canku, assistant professor of practice for Dakota Studies at NDSU and member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, will be the event’s spiritual adviser.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.