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Date: 5/16/2023
AMHERST — A celebration of Native American heritage, the third Annual Odenong Powwow comes to Amherst-Pelham Regional High School on May 27 and 28.
“It’s essentially a cultural gathering and a celebration of those cultures,” said Justin Beatty who organizes the event each year and encourages those both who are and aren’t part of the Indigenous community to check out what he describes as a cultural, educational and community building event.
“There is an opportunity here for folks to start to investigate their relationships with the Indigenous people in the areas where they live,” Beatty offered.
Beatty who is Black and Native American said he founded the Powwow in 2021 in the months after he was involved in a near fatal car accident that left him hospitalized for months.
“A large portion of the Native American community in New England really helped to take care of my family,” Beatty explained. “They provided food for my family, they helped secure hotel rooms for my mother to come stay while I was in the hospital.”
As he recovered, Beatty realized he wanted to do something to give back to the community that had helped him so much. As a long-time Powwow singer and dancer, he said the event just made sense.
“I know the value of Powwows to our community, it’s an opportunity for us to celebrate who we are as Indigenous people, it’s an opportunity for us to come together and visit with family and friends that we don’t get to see all the time and to see how our respective cultures are evolving,” Beatty said.
Because there are so many different cultures and each with their different practices Beatty said they perform songs originating from the Pawnee, Omaha, Osage and Kiowa people.
Dances will be performed by Grass Dancer Leroy Araujo and his sister Hailey-Jade Araujo.
“When people come to powwows they get to see some of the differences and they get an opportunity to experience it first hand,” he said.
Returning this year will be some of the people and performances that Beatty said made last year’s event so successful and are known to those who follow the nationwide powwow circuit of events and concerts.
The Walking Bear Singers, a New England based gathering of Southern style drums, are scheduled to perform as well.
Local vendors and businesses will be part of the event schedule as will visual artists who create jewelry, clothing and home décor.
Along with the wave of interaction and entertainment, Beatty said there is a chance for non-members of the Indigenous community to dispel some prior inclinations and just have a good time.
“If they try to set aside their preconceived notions about who we are and what we are,” he said. “They get a chance to learn and maybe that sparks conversation.”
More information can be found by visiting www.Facebook.com/OdenongPowwow