The Powwow Times 4th Annual Powwow Times International Powwow is coming up and will be held at the NExSource Arena in Sylvan Lake Alberta.
I know a lot of people were getting very use to coming to Red Deer to the Centrium Arena but this year there was a major miscommunication and they gave our dates away to another event. So we were left trying to figure out how we can still go about having our Powwow Celebration.
When I first moved to the Red Deer area over 12 years ago it was a huge dream of mine to host a Powwow. I would literally write on this big poster board my goals for the beginning of the year and write “Host a Powwow” as a goal.
I would look at that goal each year and another year would go past and still no Powwow.
Then one day I started to ask questions from knowledgable people on how I would go about running my own Powwow. I learned about how to write grants, how to make a sponsorship package, and how to run an event.
I started to gain confidence that maybe I can do it.
I got a team together and said, let’s do it. Let’s host a Powwow.
I’ve driven by the Centrium arena many times and said one day I would host my Powwow there.
I contacted them and they said it wasn’t available but the building next to the Arena they had a spot at the Exhibition Centre. So we booked the dates and ran with the Powwow.
It was such a huge learning experience for me that came with a lot of room for improvement.
The next year which was our 2nd Annual Powwow we did it again. Working with a big arena stage is hard because there is a lot of hidden costs. After we were done our Powwow I was left with a bill of close to $50,000 that I had to pay out of my own pocket.
The 3rd Annual Powwow was held again in the big arena and still had hidden costs but I was more prepared this time around and was left with only a $5,000 bill that I had to pay for out of pocket after the event was done.
Now we are here on our 4th annual Powwow.
Having it at the Big arena this year just could not work out.
For the past 14 years we lived in Sylvan Lake and they actually helped us grow our business Powwow Times.
We came to this town with a dream to do something with our lives.
We grinded and grinded and kept working and started to get traction with our business. Teaching and workshops and more.
We accomplished our dream of hosting a Powwow and originally I committed to 4 years.
This is our 4th year.
This is our love letter to Sylvan Lake. A place that help raise us.
Where our dreams came true.
We hope that you can join us on October 18th, 2024. This day will kick off our Powwow.
Hope to see you there.
Patrick Mitsuing
