Although she thought there’ d be a little less “Wow” in this year’ s Pow Wow Days due to some major changes, festival organizer Helen Abougoush says that turned out not to be the case. “It went better than I expected. It really did,” Abougoush said.
Although she thought there’ d be a little less “Wow” in this year’ s Pow Wow Days due to some major changes, festival organizer Helen Abougoush says that turned out not to be the case.
“It went better than I expected. It really did,” Abougoush said. “I was expecting lower attendance but in the end, I think people still really wanted to come.”
The three-day festival was divided this year, with vendors and entertainers relocating to the Bold Center from the long-serving Recreation Grounds, while the midway, parade and other mainstays remained downtown.
It was a move that attracted both support and opposition from community members, some of whom felt it was too much of a break from tradition.
In the days leading up to Pow Wow, Abougoush said splitting the festival was a strategic move to keep costs lower while securing a shaded, air-conditioned space for events.
Now that it’ s over, she’ s convinced it was the right thing to do.
“I think it worked,” she said. “Just personally, I think it was a good idea. I do have to say that I got way more positive feedback than negative.”
The attendance numbers speak for themselves, she says. Over the weekend, more than 1,000 pancake breakfasts were served at the Bold Center, 600 people attended the talent shows and well over 500 watched last Sunday’ s Homemade Jam performances.
“Some people came to the Bold Center all three days, which they never did at the Pow Wow grounds,” said Abougoush. “Overall, the numbers were better than I expected.”
She says the Bold Center’ s staff, as well as Pow Wow volunteers and directors, can’ t be thanked enough for their hard work.
The Aboriginal Village was one aspect of the festival that shone because of a volunteer’ s dedication, she says. There was some uncertainty about where-or even if-it would happen, but the replica of a traditional First Nations settlement found a home outside the Bold Center.
“With only weeks to plan, Simmone Dequaine just took that event and ran with it and she did an awesome job,” Abougoush said.
Pow Wow only just ended, but Abougoush already has ideas for improving the festival next year, like including more children’ s activities at the Bold Center.
“Of course, there are things that we’ ll have to iron out,” she said. “We’ ll have a debriefing and we’ ll review the whole event.”
In future years, she’ s expecting the Bold Center to be the venue for more and more attractions, making the multiplex more of a one-stop shop for the festival.
