.entry-date::after {content: ” by Val Niehaus”;} April 1, 2017 – Full Issue On the weekend of March 18-19, 2017, the FCP Powwow Committee hosted the 22nd Annual FCP Winter’s End Powwow at the Crandon High School gym. FCP Vice Chairman Al Milham welcomed everyone at the start of the day and thanked them for coming to this year’s powwow. The powwow started Saturday afternoon with grand entry at noon, and it carried on into Sunday ending at 5 pm. It was a time to gather with others to visit and catch up, and it offered an opportunity to reconnect with family and friends after a long winter. Emcee was none other than Artley Skenandore with Keith Smith serving as arena director. Skenandore did a fantastic job as always keeping everyone in the “know” as to what special dance was next, what the food vendors were selling, and other pertinent specifics about what was happening as the day proceeded. Smith kept everyone in line in the dance arena and was there to answer any questions the dancers may have had. Head veteran for this year was Paul Cloud. This year was handled a bit differently with respect to the head dancers. During each session, new people were chosen to be the head dancers instead of having strictly one set of head dancers for the entire powwow. On Saturday, the head dancers for the first session were Steve King and Dionne Jacobs. Second session that night had Bernie Lemieux as head male dancer and Becky Miller as head female dancer. For the Sunday afternoon session, head male dancer was Darrel Frank with Michelle Reed being head female dancer. All did a great job at a moment’s notice! Host drum this year was Sharp Shooter with the local drum group Fire Nation as co-host drum. Other drums that were present included Tomahawk Circle, Smokey Town, Lake Delton, Wolf River, Chief Hill, Little Thunder and Swamp Creek. All drums did a great job of keeping the “beat” of the powwow alive so all could dance hard and feel that special rhythm. Dance specials this year were luck of the draw and spot dances. The princess and brave contest was held Friday night with a few dancers competing in each category. Winners for the contest were then announced Saturday afternoon with new royalty for Winter’s End 2017 being:

• Senior Princess: Sarah Schingeck
• Junior Princess: Nem Ki Kwe Daniels
• Brave: Lucas Urijah-Decorah

New to this year’s powwow were two different venues. Apache Danforth, tribal tourism development director, had a stand set up for Native American Tourism of Wisconsin (NATOW) which promotes tourism throughout Indian Country. In addition, Milwaukee Potawatomi Hotel Casino (PHC) had an internship stand set up to show what was happening within that area of commerce. This year’s powwow had a few changes from previous years but overall it seemed to go smoothly with everyone smiling, laughing, and sharing stories with one another. The dancers danced hard and the amount of tiny tots dancing was great to see — the future of the powwow world.