From fry bread to beadwork to alligator wrestling, there’s a lot of Seminole and Native American culture on display at the 2017 Seminole Tribal Fair and Pow Wow in Hollywood.
But for hundreds of attendees from throughout North America, the real draw is the dance competitions.
"Native Americans come from across the country to dance at our powwow," said Wanda Bowers, powwow director. "A lot of these people, that's their life."
Dancers kick off the 2017 Seminole Tribal Fair and Pow Wow at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood. Dancers from across the country and Canada will compete for cash prizes this weekend. Kate Stein/WLRN. #seminolehardrock #seminoletribalfair #southflorida #sofla #browardcounty #powwow #wlrn A video posted by WLRN Public Media (@wlrn) on Feb 10, 2017 at 8:20am PST
Many of the approximately 300 dancers competing are on what's known as the powwow circuit. They travel throughout the United States and Canada, competing in different categories of dance. At the Seminole powwow in Hollywood, they earn points both for participating in dances and for judges' evaluations of their performances.
"They just dance all weekend until Sunday, when they announce the winners," Bowers said. Prizes range from $600 to $1200, and men and women compete separately in dances like the grass dance, the chicken dance and the couples dance, which Bowers said she added for Valentine's Day weekend.
Galen Springer came to Florida from Oklahoma to compete. His family is from the Otoe-Ioway tribe in Iowa, and he specializes in two dances: the slower-paced Southern Straight, which originated in southern states like Oklahoma, and the up-tempo Traditional, which came from further north.
"My tribe dances quite a bit, but I'm the only one in my family who dances," he said. "I'm a country boy, but I kind of made it where now people know me. They recognize my regalia, they recognize me and I enjoy that."
Springer is a former college basketball coach at Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas. But he's currently unemployed, so he and his fiancée drive to powwows across the country, where they sell T-shirts and crafts, and Springer competes.
"We make a little money here and make a little bit there," he said. "It's not about the money; it's about going out and having fun."
His favorite part, Springer added, is the friendship that develops among dancers on the circuit.
"It's a part of my heritage," he said, "and then at the same time I get to meet different people from different tribes, different areas of the United States."
Bowers, the powwow director, said she's been involved with the powwow for the past 15 years, and directed it for the past three or four. Recruiting judges and announcers, booking flights and hotels, coordinating dancers and handling the many other to-dos in preparation for powwow weekend is a lot of work, she said.
"Now that I'm getting older, it's a bit more draining."
But, Bowers added, when she's finally on the floor corralling dancers, the thrill of the full-blown powwow erases any fatigue.
"I love it out there," she said. "Everybody wants to shake my hand and hug me and I'm like, 'Later, later, later.'
"That's my best part -- intermingling with all my friends coming in."
The 2017 Seminole Cultural Festival and Pow Wow runs through Sunday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood. The event is open to the public; admission is free.
