Gathering of the Waters Powwow brings indigenous dance, performances, tradition to EC
LAKE HALLIE — Despite scattered showers on Saturday, people still gathered indoors for the Gathering of the Waters powwow on Saturday.
While powwows are usually held outside, rain storms throughout the day moved their event from Carson Park in Eau Claire to the Valley Sports Academy up in Lake Hallie. There, people took part in dancing with drums, painting and a number of vendors and displays for the community to celebrate Native American culture and tradition.
Sami Taylor, chair of the Supporting Indigenous Mayo Employee Resource Group and employee in the Mayo Clinic Health System, said the powwow put on this year was an idea culminated by their group.
“We thought that the history of the area where a lot of our tribes gathered in Wisconsin, this would be a great inaugural event to kick off for the community…” said Taylor. “Back in 2019, there was a contest held at UW-Eau Claire. And that’s pretty common for them because the Native American student organization there are big supporters of hosting an annual powwow. But once the pandemic hit, it knocked everybody off schedule and it was hard to get back on our feet again.”
But this year, Taylor said they have support from the Mayo Clinic to put on this event. She said this to her is historically significant, as it is the first time that they have helped to put on a powwow like this.
On top of that, she said this year’s powwow was supported by the Pablo Foundation and the Chippewa Valley Museum.
People gathered from all over for Saturday’s event, with some dancing in the powwow even saying they traveled over four hours to get there.
Becky Taylor, an enrolled member in the Lac Courte Oreilles band of Ojibwe, said her travel time was over two hours to be a part of this event. She also managed to talk with the community earlier this week at the Powwow 101 course at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library, where she talked about the significance of the powwow, celebrating tradition and the significance of their regalia worn during events like this.
“We are experiencing this beautiful and wonderful, colorful event for all ages and all nationalities,” said Becky Taylor. “It is a family-oriented social event showing off our songs, our dances, our culture, our arts and crafts, our one-of-a-kind regalia, our songs with the dances, our prayers, honoring our veterans and taking care of our elders and our young children. It is just a beautiful celebration.”
Adding to that significance, Sami Taylor said, “As an indigenous person, every time we leave our tribal community we are truly leaving behind a full support system, blood relatives and non-blood relatives, and that is a big part whether we leave the reservation to seek careers or higher education… When you can bring multiple tribal communities to you and hold a powwow where you are, that is a big significance that it shows our tribal communities will show up wherever we need each other to be.”
For the future, Sami Taylor said their hope is that the event can be held at Carson Park. They aim to put the Gathering of the Waters powwow on next year as an annual event.