‘It’s so, so powerful’: 44th annual Kamloopa Powwow in photos

An estimated 20,000 people attended Kamloopa Powwow last weekend.

Hosted at the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Arbour, this year the powwow marked its 44th year and included a performance from a Māori group from Aotearoa (New Zealand) that sang and danced the Kapa Haka, a group dance with chanting that’s referred to as a “living art form” of Māori culture.  

Stuart Patrick Jr., a Nuu-chah-nulth dancer, travelled to perform during the weekend at the powwow. 

“We dance for the people,” he says. “We danced for those who couldn’t be there, and then I danced for everybody that was there, in prayers and out of my heart.”

For Patrick, as a dancer being part of the powwow is a big opportunity to share his culture with other Indigenous Peoples.

“I went there to get grounded and dance to the heartbeat of the drum,” he says. 

Patrick was part of the senior men’s category, which represents men as the community’s protectors. 

“We are the protectors of our family, of our nations. We will go to battle. We are the providers,” he says. “The style that I dance, all the moves that you see, that’s our celebration of our battles and wars that we’ve come across. 

“We’re telling a story of how we’ve overcome those battles and why we are here today.”

He learned this dancing style from his West Coast culture near Ucluelet.

Yasakw (Shelly) Samuels, of Haida and Kwakwaka’wakw ancestry, attended Kamloopa as a vendor.

Along with her fiancée, Robert Robinson of Nisga’a Nation, the couple travelled from Haida Gwaii to attend this year’s powwow.

Samuels, whose Kwakwaka’wakw name is Yasakw, has a small Indigenous business called Yasakw Designs, which sells her jewelry and other handcrafted items made using traditional materials like copper and cedar.

This was the second year she and her family attended the powwow. 

“It just gave me nostalgia, seeing everyone in their regalia. It’s so, so powerful,” Samuels says. “We’re not that far away from the Kamloops Indian Residential school, a place that was supposed to kill the Indian. 

“But now here we are, as Indigenous people, practicing our culture right beside [it], it’s kind of like taking our power back.”

For Samuels, besides it being a powerful experience, the powwow has been important to share with her family and young children. 

“I love taking my kids there, it’s amazing,” she explains. “The best part of my job is that my kids get to experience all the culture, that’s the most important thing for me.”

Teresa Walker, Nlaka’pamux and Sylix born and raised, has been vending and dancing at Kamloopa for 30 years. 

The entrepreneur, designer and Knowledge Keeper jokes that she’s “in the old girls club now.” “My kids started as tiny tots,” Walker tells The Wren over text message.

“It’s the biggest I’ve seen in many years. We had 700 dancers,” she added, more than the typical 500. 

Walker’s booth was so busy she didn’t have time to take photos, but she was captured by Kamloops photographer Peter Olsen.

The Grand Entry dance was especially well attended, Walker said, with dancers from across Canada and the U.S. 

“We are moving into a new era of this powwow.”

Dancing for ‘history, love, and resilience’

On Friday night at Kamloopa Powwow, eight-year-old Sulyálesta Grizzlypaws stepped into the arbour wearing elk tooth regalia. 

“Her long braids were wrapped in otter fur, adorned with soft pink conch shells that shimmered under the sunlights,”  Sulyálesta’s mother Laura Grizzlypaws told The Wren via email.

“She wore an elk tooth buckskin dress and moccasins with her basket hat that speak to the beauty and strength of her St’át’imc and Warm Springs heritage. But her dance carried more than beauty — it carried history, love, and resilience.

“Just beyond the arbour stand the walls of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, a place that holds painful memories for her grandmother and countless others who were forced through its doors, stripped of language and culture in an effort to erase Indigenous identity.

“Despite those shadows, Sulyálesta dances with powerful purpose. Each step she takes is an act of honour and resistance, a living testament that the spirit and traditions meant to be extinguished have not only survived but shine brightly through her.

“Her regalia and flowing hair are not mere adornments; they are shields of cultural pride, connecting her to the teachings, ceremonies, and ancestral ways that residential schools tried to destroy.”

Sulyálesta is the daughter of Laura Grizzlypaws, Indigenous educational developer, author and a Bear Dancer of the St’át’imc, and Levi Blackwolf of Warm Springs.

She belongs to a strong lineage of Chiefs and the Bear Clan community and travels internationally with her mother as a Grizzly Bear Dancer, “sharing the rich stories, songs, and dances of their people with audiences across the world, from Europe to the Yukon, Alaska, Mexico, California, Orlando, the Dakotas, and the eastern Canadian provinces.”

“Sulyálesta has carried her culture onto global stages since she was just a baby,” Laura continues. “And here she enters into the arbour at Kamloopa Powwow, surrounded by the echoes of drums and the voices of her people.

“Sulyálesta dances not just for herself, but for her ancestors, her family, and the generations still to come. In her movements, we see proof that Indigenous culture remains alive, vibrant, and unstoppable.”

4 Generations Creations founder gives back

Kamloops’ 4 Generations Creations founder Ashely Michel organized a Wear a Ribbon Skirt & Dance Your Style special to honour the origins of her company. 

“I was raised by my Mom & Grandma to always give back when I can. So, it has been a goal of mine to ‘give back’ through my business,” she wrote on social media in the lead up to the event.

“I started making Ribbon Skirts for my daughter and I in 2013 to attend cultural events. My creations eventually progressed into regalia & we started travelling across Canada to Pow Wows which was the start of my business,” she added. 

In this photo, Michel’s daughter’s pink ribbons take flight as she dances in regalia adorned with blue beads.

Editor’s Note July 2: This story was updated to add quotes from a longtime Kamloopa vendor and dancer Teresa Walker, who submitted reflections shortly after publication.