Another great turnout for Nipissing First Nation’s Annual Traditional Pow Wow
By Kelly Anne Smith
NIPISSING FIRST NATION— Nipissing First Nation’s 31st Annual Traditional Pow Wow, Gaa-Miingooyan Enyweng – The Language That Was Given to You, was two sunny days of friends, family, dancing and ceremony.
Held in Garden Village, the two-day event, held on August 31 and September 1, had happy crowds and many dancers moving to Host Drum High Ridge Singers and Co-Host Boys From the Bay.
This year’s celebration featured Bob Goulais as Master of Ceremony with Clifton Couchie Mianskum directing the arena. Elders George Couchie and Virginia Goulais and Grandmother Evelyn McLeod were available for guidance. Head Male Dancer was McKenzie Ottereyes-Eagle with Head Female Dancer Desiree Sands. Head Male Youth Dancer was Brent Couchie while Head Female Youth Dancer was Kelsey Borgford.
Borgford was crowned Miss Nipissing on Friday night.
“I tried to be confident. My fellow contenders would have been good representatives of the crown as well. They do a lot of work for the community. I was not expecting it so I’m happy with the title.”
Borgford is active in service work.
“My volunteering that I’ve been doing the past year is with the Canadore Aboriginal Student Association. I’ve been doing the pow wow and community events to make people from other communities feel more welcome,” explained Borgford. “I’ve also been working with Youth for Music Coalition of Canada as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit representative. We do work to come up with an understanding of what music means to us in the education system as First Nation’s People.”
Being crowned Miss Nipissing comes with commitment says Borgford.
“One of my responsibilities is to travel around to represent this title and this crown at pow wows. But I want to take it a little bit further and go into communities and focus on confidence building through culture. I want to build up some of the communities that don’t have pow wows around yet.”
Nipissing First Nation event coordinator Mindy Martel was pleased that the 2019 pow wow ran smoothly.
“Our pow wow is normally at Jocko [Point] but we had flooded out. This year we decided to move it and include our whole community. Out there are our sacred grounds but we have a lot of community members here that don’t normally come. Our parking went really well and everything went so good.”
There were tenters and RV campers at the pow wow grounds. Many craft vendors were selling their wares while the delicious food vendors were busy feeding folks. Martel urged folks to bring reusable drinking cups and reusable feast bundles.
After Grand Entry, Nipissing First Nation Chief Scott McLeod welcomed everybody to the ancestral lands of the Nbisiing Anishnaabe.
“The ground we stand on here today is rich with the DNA of my ancestors. The DNA of my people is in the trees, it’s in the leaves, it’s in the ground, it’s in the water. That’s where we come from. One day we will return into the ground and start the cycle all over again. In between that, this is what we do. We come together. We celebrate life. We celebrate our differences, our uniqueness. And we are tolerant. We’re accepting. This is about sharing and enjoying and celebrating life. Miigwetch to the dancers, the drummers, sacred items, and to our Elders. Everybody have a great pow wow!”
Later, Chief McLeod explained the pow wow is a community coming together.
“The pow wow is about family and friends. We have guests that travel the pow wow circuit or the pow wow trail. They do this from early summer to the fall going from pow wow to pow wow. The First Nations in this region are always careful about when they have their pow wows so it doesn’t conflict with other ones. A lot of people like to attend all of them. It’s been another good turn out.”