An estimated 10,000 people gathered for the 26th annual Seafair Indian Days Pow Wow at Discovery Park this past weekend.
The two-day event brings together Native Americans from across the western United States and Canada to compete in traditional dance and drumming competitions. It is also a chance for those taking part to gather and meet friends and family and pass on traditions to a younger generation.
But this year’s event was different than those in the past, and it wasn’t just the constant drizzle that thinned the crowds that line the field near Discovery Park’s Daybreak Star Center for the traditional dancing competition.
This year, the gathering honored the memory of Bernie Whitebear, the Native American activist who helped make this event possible.
It was Whitebear, a divisive activist in his day who fought for fishing rights and land for native tribes, who organized the 1970 “campout” in which hundreds of Native Americans and other activists occupied Fort Lawton for months. They maintained the site was originally tribal land and came to reclaim the military base. After extensive negotiations with the U.S. government, Whitebear and his group were granted 20 acres of land in what is today known as Discovery Park. The property has become the Daybreak Star Center and surrounding lands.
On Saturday, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn was on hand to rename Lawton Wood Boulevard that leads to the Daybreak Star Center building “Bernie Whitebear Way” in honor of the activist who died in 2000.
The Whitebear dedication was one of the major parts of this year’s Seafair Indian Days Pow Wow. Organized by the United Indians Of All Tribes Foundation, the weekend event is also known for its colorful dance competition in which Native dancers, come from across the United States and Canada to compete in the powwow arena, a sacred site during the competition.
The dancers compete in various categories while wearing traditional dress and headdresses.
Cetan Thunderhawk, who lives in Bozeman, Mont. and is a member of the Lakota Sioux Tribe said he competes in the traditional dance category on a regular circuit for such dance competitions. He is on the road visiting other pow wows virtually every weekend around North American from March to October. He estimates he competes at 30 or 40 pow wows a year.
Thunderhawk said this was his first time competing at the Seafair Indian Days Pow Wow, but he was enjoying the event. He said it was a smaller and more laid back competition than some of the others that he attends. He said some of the larger events may include more than 10,000 dancers taking part in the competition.
[[In-content Ad]]