Something Felt Different About This Pow Wow... 🪶

Ya’at’teeh! Aaron Tsosie here, the person behind the camera! Welcome to the Prescott Pow Wow... although I'll be honest, this was one of those pow wows where we didn't really feel welcomed. That's probably the hardest part for me to explain, because nothing happened right away that I could point to and say, "This is exactly why." It was more of a feeling throughout the weekend that we were allowed to be there, but weren't necessarily welcomed. Before I get too far into that, there's a little bit of background with the MC situation. Trevor Foster was originally supposed to MC this pow wow, but his job wouldn't allow him to take Friday off. From what I understand, he asked the pow wow committee if they could find someone to cover for him, but the committee decided that if he couldn't commit to the entire weekend, they wouldn't have him at all. That's where Manuel Lucero came in as the MC. When we arrived Saturday morning, one of the first things I noticed during the Gourd Dance was how strongly they were asking people not to take photos or videos. I've filmed plenty of Gourd Dances, and I know that every pow wow has its own rules. It's rare in my experience, but I completely respect it when a committee says no filming. I had just set up my camera near the circle when I heard, over the microphone, "No photos or videos allowed," while Manuel was looking directly toward me. It caught me off guard, but I simply pointed my camera down and waited for Grand Entry. As always, I'll respect the rules of the pow wow and I won't post anything I'm not supposed to. From there, the day continued. My mom and I left Phoenix around 6 AM and arrived around 8:30 in the morning after stopping at Walmart. We paid $5 for park day use at Watson Lake Park, then another $8 per person for the pow wow admission, so $21 total for the two of us. A family of four would be looking at $37 between the park and pow wow admission. We knew the admission fee ahead of time, so it wasn't a surprise, but it is something I noticed because many of the social pow wows I attend are free for everyone. Once Grand Entry started, though, things changed for us. We started seeing our friends and pow wow families, people we hadn't seen in months. We were laughing, catching up and enjoying being around our traveling community again. That's really what made the contrast so noticeable. For me, the MC style just didn't have the warmth or personality that I'm used to experiencing at other pow wows. The MC's tone was much more blunt than what I'm accustomed to, and I found some of his stories difficult to connect with. From the perspective of someone traveling to pow wows all over the country, I also found myself wondering whether Watson Lake is still the best physical location for the event. The slope of the field made dancing and even walking around difficult. You can actually see it in my footage—dancers are having to dance against the slope, and I had to work with the slope in mind, just to keep my camera level. Personally, I'd love to see the pow wow somewhere with a flatter field. I've been to plenty of pow wows where the setup is much simpler—an open field, portapotties, a sound system and not much else—and that simplicity can make the event more enjoyable. And then, when The Cibique Apache Crown Dancers came out, it felt like everything changed. That's when the pow wow finally felt like the pow wow I came to experience. We could dance, laugh, visit with each other and enjoy being together as a traveling community. Balford was warm and it was like dad explaining to his kids why they dance and the full meaning behind the dance. We are the children listening to dad and we wanted to listen to every word he said. So that's where I'm leaving my thoughts on Saturday. There are definitely things I would change about this pow wow, from the location and admission structure to the way some things were handled throughout the weekend. But I also don't want to pretend there weren't good moments, because there were. Seeing my friends and the people I've met through traveling to these pow wows is always something I'll appreciate. I'll talk more about what happened on Sunday in the next video, because that's where some of the things I experienced became much harder for me to overlook. Thank you for watching and supporting Indigenous Event Recordings. Ahe'hee'! 🪶