The 21st Annual FCP Winter’s End Pow-Wow took place March 19-20, 2016, at the Crandon High School gym. The event provided an opportunity for people to reconnect with one another after a long winter. The mood during the entire weekend was friendly and family-like, and it was obvious everyone was enjoying themselves.
Emcee for the weekend was Artley Skenandore; Kelvin Notinokey was arena director. Both did an amazing job of keeping an order to events both days.
Head male dancer was Ira Frank; head female dancer was Helena Melchert. Both also did a great job of making sure that all of the dancers were having a good time and that their needs were accommodated. Host drum this year was Stoney Park Singers with co-host drum being Young Firekeepers. The total number of drums was 12. Other drums included: Lake Delton, Swamp Creek, Buffalo Bay, Wolf River, Savage Creek, Ho-Chunk Station, Medicine River, Wind Eagle, FCPC Young Warriors and Chief Hill.
Specials this year included:
Old Time Women’s Fancy: Victoria Hinsdale, rst place; Linda Herrera, second place; Sadie Kelly, third place.
Old Time Men’s Grass: Jaycee Kill- spotted, rst place; Steve King, second place; Keith Reed, third place.
Women’s Switch Dance: Shania Teller, first place.
Men’s Switch Dance: Bryant Doud, first place.
The main event that many had been looking forward to was the announcement of 2016 royalty:
Senior Princess – Penelope Peters
Junior Princess – Precious VanZile
Brave – Daniel Shepard
Each of them was beyond ecstatic to receive this honor. Interviews with each follows. PTT congratulates all three!
This year’s pow-wow was a great one! There was excellent attendance and all had a great time visiting, watching the dancers and enjoying the food and vendors. Many look forward to the coming year and the pow-wows that are to come. Many thanks go out to Stoney Park Singers, Young Firekeepers, Crandon High School and staff!
Royalty Interviews
by Autry Johnson, PTT Apprentice
Daniel Shepard’s (age 13) Native name is Optigesse. He is the son of Houston and grandchild of Donna Cornell and the late Dennis Shepard. Shepard also attends Crandon Middle School.
Shepard prepared for his newly attained royal status as brave both culturally and physically. He practiced immensely at many other powwows, especially at his aunt’s house, dancing so hard he injured his back before dancing. After school on Tuesdays, Shepard attends language classes and also participates in many different ceremonies around the community.
When asked why he wanted to be brave, he answered, “I want to follow my family – my cousin Bambi was brave before, and I like to follow down this path.” He also wants to represent the FCP community around Indian Country, expanding his pow-wow friends that he may know. Dancing is something that he really enjoys, keeping in a strong mind that he will always continue down the road of dancing for many years.
Shepard hopes to go far around Indian Country, traveling for pow-wows and spreading a good image of the FCP youth and hoping to give a good influence to the youth around the area also.
Precious VanZile (age seven) is the daughter of tribal council member Heather VanZile and Josh VanZile. Her grandparents are Tammy and Gerald Mann.
VanZile, at such a young age, started to prepare to be princess before. “I practiced dancing to a lot of songs,” VanZile stated. “I also attend classes in the Potawatomi language every Monday after school and learn about my other tribal culture by attending Ojibway classes after school on Wednesday,” VanZile said. She also tells about how she loves to attend anything cultural and participate in traditional ceremonies, learning a great philosophy of life
from old teachings that she hopes to pass down.
VanZile likes to be a role model for her younger and older family members. She hopes to attend many powwows to represent the Potawatomi community to many others. This year, she hopes to dance at the Gathering of Nations Pow-wow and many more.
Penelope Peters (age 13), won the 2016 Winter’s End Princess, making this her third time being FCP Royalty in the community. Peters is honored to have such a great achievement with many wins under her belt, making her future brighter and showing that she is becoming quite a dancer.
Peters is the daughter of Migwen Shepard and Pierre Peters. Her grandma is Nitty Shepard and great-grandfather is Billy Daniels. Her Indian name is Ni ga na snok – “head lighting”.
Peters has danced for many years, preparing her for this new royalty. She has also learned much about her culture and heritage through ceremonies and language classes. She hopes to continue representing the FCP nation in a great way to the people in the community and also because of her love of dancing.
Peters hopes to go to as many pow-wows she can the following year to represent her tribal community in great ways amongst the pow-wow commu- nity, to her friends, family, and even people she may not know at pow-wows. She hopes to be a great in uence to the youth and wants to inspire many other youth in the community to dance, sing, and experience more ceremonies the native culture has to offer.