By Santee Ross, University of Motana

The Denver March Powwow in my eyes officially kicks off the spring/summer powwow season. Hundreds of Natives traveled to Denver last month to dance, visit and snag. Every other Facebook status of my friends and family involved some kind of shenanigan and the Denver March Powwow.

The other powwow that is sure to blow up Facebook this upcoming month is Gathering of Nations. Natives of all tribes are coming out of hibernation to hit up the dusty powwow grounds and school gyms. There are just so many powwows coming up it feels like now you might have to make a choice between several powwows instead of just a couple.

Another thing to keep in mind when hitting the Powwow Trail is word of mouth goes a long way. There are a lot of local community powwows starting up too. Most are small one or two day events like back home there was an Easter Powwow. The only reason it’s not listed is because there isn’t a site uploaded on the Arapaho website with details.

This is where you use the call-your-cousins method, which I find to be better than any internet site. We live in the 21st century and grapevine connections still get you farther than 4G--some things are just better through the grapevine.

APRIL

University of Arizona Wildcat Powwow
April 13-14th
Tucson, AZ
http://nasa.arizona.edu/event/116

San Juan College Contest Powwow
April 13-15th
Farmington, NM
http://www.sanjuancollege.edu/pages/3062.asp

2012 NSU Powwow
April 13-14th
Tahlequah, OK
http://www.cts.nsuok.edu/NSUPowwow.aspx

8th Annual All Nations Powwow
April 14th
Omaha, NE
http://calendar.creighton.edu/event?id=18654

RSU Graduation Honor Powwow
April 14th
Claremore, OK
http://www.rsu.edu/student-affairs/orgs/nasa.asp

9th Annual New Faces of an Ancient People Powwow
April 14th-15th
Boalsburg, PA
http://powwow.psu.edu/

OCU 6th Annual Spring Contest Powwow
April 14th
Oklahoma City, OK
http://www.okcu.edu/diversity/events.aspx

UWGB 15th Annual Powwow
April 14th
Green Bay, WI
http://blog.uwgb.edu/campuslife/uw-green-bay-community-pow-wow/

SU Native Traditions Spring Powwow
April 14th
Georgetown, TX
http://www.southwestern.edu/live/news/6582-su-native-to-host-its-8th-annual-powwow-april-14

First Nations University Annual Powwow
April 14-15th
Regina, SK (Canada)
http://www.fnuniv.ca/index.php/pow-wow

42nd UNDIA Time-Out Powwow
April 20-22nd
Grand Forks, ND
http://www.fnuniv.ca/index.php/pow-wow

41st Annual First Nations at UW Spring Powwow
April 20-22nd
Seattle, WA
http://students.washington.edu/fnuw/powwow/

NCIPA 20th Annual Spring Contest Powwow
April 20-22nd
Ft. Collins, CO
http://www.fortnet.org/PowWow/NCIPA_powwow.html

Gathering of Nations 2012
April 26-28th
Albuquerque, NM
http://www.gatheringofnations.com/powwow/index.htm

MSU Northern Sweet Grass Society Annual Powwow
April 27-28th
Havre, MT
http://www.msun.edu/stuorgs/sgs/powwow.htm

98th OU Spring Contest Powwow
April 28th
Norman, OK
http://www.ou.edu/aisa/cal.html