THUNDER BAY — The Indigenous Cultural Traditions Club (ICTC) hosted its 35th annual powwow at the Lakehead University Hanger this weekend, showcasing local talent and entertainment while reinforcing Indigenous cultural traditions.
The free powwow featured a traditional feast, grand entry, several Indigenous arts and crafts vendors and the drum group Walking Bear as the Host Drum.
Jordan Thompson-Vankoughnett, the ICTC’s president and lead organizer, participated in the festivities. He said it was a great way to bring everyone together and continue building the community they’ve built over the past 35 years.
“Our first powwow was hosted back in 1988,” said Thompson-Vankoughnett.
“And just seeing the community that continues to build year after year, whether you’ve been coming here since way back, when we still had the powwow in the Fieldhouse or even in the Agora, (or) even if it’s your first year here now, you’ve become a part of this community that we’ve built and we just want to continue building that community.”
He explained that the club plays a very large part in organizing the powwow every year.
“We take on a variety of roles," said Thompson-Vankoughnett.
"We’re in charge of organizing all the volunteers, finding all the head staff to come here and help us at the powwow and just trying to get everyone here together."
He said that they try their best to make everything run smoothly and he believes this year’s powwow has gone really smoothly.
For 2025, the powwow switched locations from the Fieldhouse to the Hangar.
Thompson-Vankoughnett said they outgrew that space a long time ago.
“It was a lot smaller, a lot more confined and we wanted to have a bigger space to bring everyone together,” said Thompson-Vankoughnett.
“Have a space where we can have all our vendors here and just have everyone in the same room once again focusing on that community that we’ve built. And it’s something we’ve been trying to work on for the past three years now, so we’re really happy that it was able to happen this year for our big 35th annual powwow.”
He added that the bigger space that they have in the Hangar has also definitely had an impact on the number of people that have been there for the powwow.
“I had someone who I’ve been talking to who tries to count as many people as they can when they come in here,” said Thompson-Vankoughnett.
“Last year, we had roughly 5000 people they counted. Yesterday alone, we had 4500. During the feast that we had — our feast is prepared for 500 people and we served over 700.”
Thompson-Vankoughnett said he hopes everyone who was able to come out had a wonderful time.
“I know it’s my third year doing it and it’s such an honour every year to be able to be here and to help organize the powwow,” said Thompson-Vankoughnett.
“And just being able to see everyone that shows up and has a good time, just being able to see the smiles and the laughs that are shared, it means the world to me. So once again, big thank you to everyone who came out.”
The event was possible with the support of Lakehead University, OpenText, Matawa Jordan’s Principle, Matawa Next Steps and other corporate and community partners.
