Howdy! I'd never been to a Powwow before and wasn't sure if it was something I'd enjoy, but a friend invited me so I went. I'm never really sure if I'll look silly partaking in a cultural event when I've no close ties to the culture, so having been raised by an American-Italian woman, I'll check out Italian festivals, but unless a Jamaican friend invites me, I probably won't hang out at that street fair. If I'm in the neighborhood? Sure, for a bit. But trekking a couple of hours out to spend a day there? Nah. I also have social anxiety up the wazoo though, which is doubtless a factor.

Anywho, my friend was pumped so we made a day of it, and it was really cool. The site was set up much like your standard park-centered festival, with performances at the center, food vendors in one area near the entrance, and craft vendors circling the edge. Performances went all day. The announcer would call for a gender and age group to perform a dance. They'd step up in costume, and dance around the band that played in the center of the ring under a very large tent. It was hot and the costumes were layered, but hopefully with light materials. The announcer at one point had a dance split into two songs, a southern style, then a northern style, to better accommodate the dancers' different skillsets. I'd assumed dances were tied to specific tribes, but at least from what I saw, they were more regional than tribal. I heard calls for Fancy, Grass, and Straight and I believe those refer to the dances, but they could indicate dance and costume, I suppose. The reason I believe those were the dances was because I saw the same performers wearing their same costumes for multiple dances.

Not knowing much about contemporary Native American traditions, I was surprised by how colorful the costumes were. Some included neon green or hot pink, and glitter, and the materials appeared contemporary. At one point, the announcer mentioned how some of the older dancers used to wear fully wool attire throughout, and I'm glad, for the dancers' sakes, that they've changed that.

The dancers wore numbers and there was frequent mention of judges but I didn't see who won what and imagine that must've been part of the closing ceremony. By then, I was on a bus back to our parking space in order to grab a quick bite with friends before hitting the road. Sonmi, my epileptic dog, receives her meds at 8:30pm and San Marcos is two hours from home so I was on a timetable.

Unfortunately, there were only two hot food stalls and while the food looked great, much like Hungarian lángos in appearance, those lines were too long for me. I did check out a bunch of the vendor stalls. Like at Ren Fairs, much of the merch was likely actually handmade, but some trinkets were repeated between several stalls, which was a give-away that those products were mass produced, probably purchased from AliExpress for reselling. That's a pet peeve of mine so I didn't purchase those, but I did buy a necklace I believe was handcrafted by the vendor.

I'm glad I went. I kind of wish there was a bit more preamble before each dance, maybe a Spark Notes style explanation of its significance, but the event wasn't for me, it was for Native Americans, who are probably very familiar with those concepts already. I didn't feel unwelcome or silly at all, being there. The crowd was diverse and everyone was friendly. It was very hot and loud. I'd been warned to bring a hat but I leaned hard into sunblock instead. Much of the event was in the tent, and therefore shaded, but the tent was an oven. I would go to another Powwow but I'd prefer one during the cooler months, if that's a thing.

I hope you found any of this informative! Thanks for stopping by! I drop a new blog post every Monday. Toodles!

Newsletter

Howdy! I mentioned a couple of blog posts ago how I forgot to apply for October's First Friday, but updated that I managed to snag a spot at the nearby Monster Mayhem Market for that time, instead. Well, the event was a bust, at least for myself and the other vendors. Children had a great time. Parents got to enjoy an evening of safe free entertainment for the kiddos, which is nice, but the vendors, every one I spoke to anyway, did very poorly, sales-wise. I am disappointed but the lost income is my own fault for having been so absentminded in the first place. I have applied to First Friday for November and I'm hoping I get in. I won't know until the 20th of October.

In the mean time, I've reached out to Hotel McCoy about the Art Walk they're hosting on Saturday, October 19th. It's a little late to be applying for October events, but I actually emailed the address they list on their website twice, with no response, before I finally reached out via social media requesting more accurate contact info. This past Friday, I emailed the correct address and I'm hoping to hear back soon. I'm debating also applying for the Pride Festival occurring next weekend. My work doesn't really touch on Pride much, in terms of imagery or themes? And it feels a little pandery to spend a week woodburning pride flags. Maybe flowers in pride colors? I don't know. I'm bi, but I think the event is so inclusive that's not a necessity.

I did spend last week working on painted woodburnings of a jack o'lantern, kodamas, and koroks. They came out cute and what few sales I made Friday came from the new selection.

I wasn't posting my usual timelapse videos for these because doing so slows me down and I was on a time crunch to get as much done as possible before what I believed would be a big event. Now I'm figuring out if I should keep knocking out Halloween merch for more potential events, or move on to Christmas designs for November's event (assuming I get in). If I sound whelmed it's because I am.

On the reading & writing side side of things, I've been mentally plotting a story that perhaps leans speculative or sci-fi, which is different. I'm querying Soul Walker, my paranormal women's fiction novel wherein Eva's quarter-life crisis is exacerbated by news that not only is she possessed, but she can see the dead. I'm still reading the Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I'm just not emotionally invested in any of the characters so it's slow going.

Thanks for stopping by! I drop a newsletter every Monday. Toodles!