Hundreds of dancers to compete at 45th annual Grand River ‘Champion of Champions’ Pow Wow

Dancers from across North America are coming out to compete to become the champion of champions at the Annual Grand River Pow Wow this weekend.

The event has only gotten bigger over the years, and centuries of culture will be on display.

Charlene Bomberry has been dancing since the 1970s.

“That was a long time ago – my cousin actually started dancing and got me to go with him, so that’s where I started,” said Bomberry.

There are a lot of different dances, and Bomberry is a traditional dancer who is also on the Grand River Champion of Champions Pow Wow committee.

“There’s different styles of traditional dancing as well,” said Bomberry. “There’s ‘stand in place’ and there’s ‘walk around’ – I do the ‘walk around’.”

Bomberry dances as a way to express her culture and personality, as she does through the dress she wears.

“Green is my favourite colour and I’m from the Deer Clan, so I have a deer on the back and on the front here,” said Bomberry.

Bomberry has been on the pow wow committee since the first one back in 1980, and each year since then it has been growing.

“We still have the families that came to that first one,” said Bomberry. “They still come every year and join us, visit – everyone becomes one big giant family.”

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A pow wow is a celebration of all kinds of First Peoples’ culture through music, dance, arts and crafts.

Dancers from all over North America come to the event. This year they are expecting around 300.

“We’d like to showcase other cultures and other relatives that we have nearby,” said Bubba Martin, another pow wow committee member.

Now if anyone has never been to a pow wow before, the main attraction to see is going to be the dances.

However, the organizer says to set aside time to come prepared to walk around and take in all the local vendors that are in the space as well.

“We do have some things that people actually make and they’re showcasing their artwork and their design,” said Martin. “So I always like to tell people ‘be prepared, walk around, see what we have, see what our vendors have’.”

Preparations began Friday for the weekend-long event.

Gates open at 10 a.m. and the parade of dancers begins at noon Saturday.

Throughout the weekend, the dancers will earn points all in hopes of winning the Champion of Champions trophy.

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