Veterans Powwow slated for July 12-14

If you go

Marcellus Norwest Memorial Veterans Powwow

When: Grand entries at 7 p.m. Friday, July 12; 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday, July 13; and noon Sunday, July 14. Royalty pageant at 11 a.m. Friday with coronation at 5 p.m.

Where: uyxat Powwow Grounds, 9600 Hebo Road

Cost: Free

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

The Marcellus Norwest Memorial Veterans Powwow will return to Grand Ronde’s uyxat Powwow Grounds July 12 and include a veterans resource fair, Veterans Royalty coronation, food and lots of dancing.

The powwow will begin at uyxat Powwow Grounds off Hebo Road with a Veterans Royalty pageant at 11 a.m. Friday, July 12, and conclude with a grand entry at noon Sunday, July 14.

Veterans Special Event Board Secretary Molly Leno is organizing the event, as she has done for the past few years.

“I feel like the Veterans Powwow is more family-oriented and it’s very near and dear to my heart,” Leno said. “Everyone is there to have fun and a lot of people are first-time dancers. Organizing this is a huge honor and we have a great board that works well together.”

This year’s host drum will be Bad Soul, a group that has been featured at several Pacific Northwest powwows. The master of ceremonies is Nick Sixkiller (Cherokee) with Ed Wulf (Yupik and Athabascan) as arena director.

Invited drum groups are Battle Stone, War Face, 4 Directions and Northwest Connections.

There will be various dance specials including men’s traditional, teen girls traditional, junior girls fast & fancy shawl battle, junior girls team dance, women’s red dress, grass dance special, remembering, women’s traditional and a tiny tot special.  

The Veterans Summit and Resource Fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, July 12 at the powwow grounds.

The event will include lunch, information and a keynote speaker from the reality T.V. show American Ninja Warrior. Abram Benally (Navajo) is a Navy veteran and was a 2018 competitor on the show.
There will also be an opportunity to try out an American Ninja Warrior obstacle course.

Navy Veteran Ramona Quenelle (Pit River), who serves as the Tribe’s Veterans Service Officer, is organizing the event, which is co-sponsored by the Office of Tribal Government Relations, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Native Wellness Institute.