This is the first year for this powwow and it seems like they're off to a good start. We've been…read moreneeding another powwow in Northeast Florida instead of relying on having to cross the Georgia-Florida line to attend the nearest one.
I usually dance at the local powwows, but this past weekend I was not able to. My mother wanted to go check this powwow out and dance so I rode down with her to the Clay County Fairgrounds in Green Cove Springs where the powwow was being held. We got there about 30 minutes on Black Friday and there were quite a few spectators there. We met up with some friends, got our chairs set up, and were ready to watch the dancers. One of the drum groups was local from Green Cove and the other drum group came down from Pennsylvania. The amount of dancers and spectators increased by maybe triple on Saturday, so that was great for everyone.
The grounds had indoor bathroom facilities, an ATM (charges $3.50 fee), plenty of vendors, tomahawk throwing, arrow shooting, Aztec dancers, flute playing, and a nice row I like to call Food Row: traditional powwow food such as indian tacos, fry bread and american food such as burgers, fries, snow cones, kettle korn, and lemonade. I brought my boyfriend home some pumpkin fry bread which he really liked. Myself, I partook in some of Gregg's Seafood & BBQ. He must've been the most popular food vendor there as he always had quite a few people ordering from him. They have frog legs, seafood boil, fried and boiled shrimp, fried wings, etc. I had a taste of my Mom's shrimp and man, it was amazing. I got some of the seafood boil which came with crawfish and I was in heaven.
The vendors were pretty diverse in what each one carried. From powwow supplies, flutes, shawls, jewelry, bows and arrows, arrowheads, knives, beadwork, moccasins, you name it. I ended up spending a lot of time at one booth and bought a pair of unique earrings, two bags of loose tea, and a little bundle of sage. I was happy.
I hope that they will keep this powwow going as I'd definitely will keep coming back.