Powwow attendance increases

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer

RAPID CITY - Attendance and participation in last weekend's 18th annual He Sapa Wacipi, Black Hills Pow Wow were up substantially over last year, powwow organizers said.

Nearly 8,500 paid spectators and 1,200 dancers took part in this year's event, according to Ann Hart, public-relations coordinator of the powwow.

Last year, paid attendance was nearly 6,200, and 800 dancers registered for competition.

Attendance was up over last year on each of the powow's three days, and even Sunday, the last and shortest day of the powwow, drew a big crowd to take part in the ceremony and pageantry of the cultural event, Hart said.

In 2003, 2,000 people attended the Sunday powwow, she said. "This year, we had 3,000."

The Black Hills Pow Wow Committee released its records showing significant increased attendance at the powwow and more dancers taking part in contests.

The 2004 attendance figures are based on paid daily entry and three-day wrist bands sold for the powwow. There were 1,523 three-day bands sold for the event. Daily admission figures were 1,521 for Friday, 3,826 for Saturday and 1,571 for Sunday.

Hart said the figures do not include the number of senior citizens or children ages 3 and younger because they were admitted to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center arena at no charge.

Last year, the powwow's daily attendance was 1,303 for Friday, 2,747 for Saturday and 981 for Sunday, and 1,139 three-day passes were sold.

On Friday, 300 dancers made the afternoon grand entry. By the following evening, the number of dancers had swelled by 400 percent.

"On Saturday night, we had 1,200 dancers come into the arena," Hart said.

She said the specials — mini dance contests — hosted by families, including those of 2003 Miss He Sapa Win Dawn Little Thunder, the Charging Eagles and Dino Holy Eagle, brought in noticeably more dancers than in the past.

Geraldine Condon of Red Scaffold said her family had hosted the Tom Charging Eagle special as a memorial to her late brother, a traditional dancer.

In 2002, as the Steve Charging Eagle family grieved for the loss of wife and mother, Lorraine, Tom's death sent the grief-stricken family out onto the powwow circuit.

"My mother told us to continue dancing, to keep doing what we were all doing … to heal," Condon said. "If it wasn't for our friends and family on the powwow circuit, it would have been a lot harder to come back from the loss."

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com