Redwood Meadows outside Calgary, site of the Tsuut’ina Nation celebration

The Tsuut’ina Nation is hosting a powwow this weekend that just keeps getting bigger and better.

This year’s event drew more than 600 dancers, Tsuut’ina Nation Chief Roy Whitney said in an interview with CTV News on Saturday. And that was just part of a weekend of celebration that included multiple events, including a state-sanctioned rodeo, a golf tournament, slow-pitch softball and handball.

This weekend there were also a number of young artists from the Alberta University for the Arts present.

“It’s a celebration,” Whitney said. “Not only of who we are, but also as a way to show and welcome our neighbors and friends to participate in our traditions.”

According to event director Wendy Twoguns, the nation spends more than $1 million on the powwow.

Visitors

Rodeo cowboys and cowboys, powwow dancers, drummers and others from across Canada and the U.S. have come to Redwood Meadows to participate and watch, Whitney said.

“We have cowboys from the (United) States that come to the Indian National Finals because it’s a sanctioned rodeo,” he said. “Those points go toward their chances of winning or making the finals.”

It’s also a big event for Tsuut’ina’s own pow wow dancers. Whitney said he estimates 50 to 60 local dancers participate.

“It’s going to be a great powwow,” he said.

The event has been around for more than 60 years, Whitney said.

This is the first year, however, that young artists have come together. Whitney said it was meaningful to have students from higher education and celebrate them, especially given the past traumas that the boarding school system has inflicted on Native families.

“It has a lot of meaning,” he said. “It’s our way of acknowledging a dark history in our lives and what happened (in boarding schools). But now we’re bringing them home. We want to keep them safe in our communities, so it’s another way of acknowledging our people.”

The event continues on Sunday. For more information, go here.

With files from Tyler Barrow