BIIGTIGONG NISHNAABEG – Travelers and community members were excited to get started on the 2023 Biigtigong Nishnaabeg community powwow this weekend.
While most of powwow is traditionally focused on events held Saturday and Sunday, Shannon Courchene, powwow coordinator said it was great to see so many people already out on Friday as the community was still setting up.
“This is pretty exciting for Friday night,” she said. “Friday night is more about warm-ups and just warming up and visiting and doing the Junior Princess and Brave contests, that's always been the tradition for Friday night, but I'm really excited to see how many people are here. I'm very excited and happy for that.”
With so many people arriving early for the powwow, there was a tremendous amount of support for the princess and brave contests which determine who will represent the youth of the community throughout the year.
“It's so important,” said Courchene. “It just shows how much we pride ourselves in our community and how we're supportive of one another and how strong our community is and supports especially for our young people.”
Dancers and drummers made their way to the powwow grounds from all over including one drum group who travelled all the way from Saskatchewan to participate
Courchene said that seeing her people come together to support each community during powwow season, gives her a lot of hope.
“There's a lot of work that always needs to be done, and there's a lot of work that needs to be done as Anishinaabe people,” she said.
“But when we have moments like this and everyone's putting in that effort because it's, it's for good intentions and good reasons just like instills a lot of hope happiness as well. I’m very, very proud to be Anishinaabe, that's for sure.”