Tour of province finds summer excitement

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People and Places

Oki. The height of the powwow season has begun. I have been on the roads of Alberta quite a bit over the last month. The weekend of June 6 to 8, Brenda Dalla Costa and I (soon to be known as "The Powwow Groupies") went off to Morley, west of Calgary for the Paul Beaver Memorial Powwow. It was hosted by the Stoney Park Singers and the Beaver family. Paul Beaver was the Elder or father of the drum group. Around 1981, he and his sons formed the drum group Stoney Park and travelled the powwow circuit. They are still going strong on the circuit today. Dancers and drummers from near and far came out to Morely to entertain the crowds. I gave it two thumbs up.

While we were in Morley, we met singer Curtis Assiniboine. He is the lead singer of Assiniboine Jrs. He is a Sioux/Ojibway from Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba. Curtis has been drumming for about 15 years. As well as singing, Curtis also composes songs and is a drumkeeper. He gave us information on his recording company called Wacipi Records. He had started this company because he wants to give the drum groups a partnership with recording and distribution for their records. At the moment, he is in the process of releasing some new powwow music. If you would like more information on Wacipi Records, you can call him at (204) 252-2524. Or write at 178 Veterans Tr., Long Plain First Nation, Edwin, MB R0H 0G0.

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After Morely, we went up north to the other end of the province and stopped in at Wabasca for that powwow. If you have ever travelled with me, you know that I sometimes think I know where I am going. This trip was no different. Instead of going the fastest way, I selected to drive along a more scenic route. It was better scenery, but it took a little longer than we thought. Anyway, we finally arrived in Wabasca and, to our amazement, there was mud. Living in the city, I think we had forgotten how much mud can be formed out in the country. There was a lot of it. It didn't look like it was going to dry up any time soon either. We were going to camp but we only had a tent and we didn't want to wake up floating to an unknown destination.

I was telling Brenda that I was worried that people up there wouldn't like me because of what I do at the radio station. (You never know about disgruntled radio bingo players.) But they were not at all like that. The fine people of the Wabasca/Desmarais area showed a lot of affection for CFWE and bingo! Thanks a lot guys for making our muddy trip something to talk about and remember.

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I have some graduations to talk about. But before I start, I would like to congratulate my sister, Rebecca Winnipeg on receiving her Bachelors of Special Education. With that out of the way, here we go!

The Samson Junior High School in Hobbema had their Grade 9 graduation a few weeks ago. It was so impressive because there were 36 grads. That is the highest number of grads ever at the Samson school. Congratulations!

The AVC campus in Lac La Biche had a special graduation for the EMR (Emergency Medical Responder) program since this was the first year it has been in existence. There were 12 students who stepped up to the podium to receive their certificates. The happy graduates were: Jennifer Anderson from Gift Lake Metis Settlement, Marie Brule from Bigstone Cree Nation, Molly Calfrobe from Kainai (Blood reserve), Pearl D'or from John D'or Prarie, Lori Dodman from Lac La Biche, Violet Lockett from Conklin Metis Settlement, Connie Martel from Dene Tha' First Nation, Marjorie Papilion from Edmonton, Glenda Rabbit from Montana Band, Hobbema, Flora Royal from Siksika Nation, Lorraine Whitehead from Little Red River Cree Nation, Janice Yellowknee from Bigstone Cree Nation. Congratulations!

Their happy, smiling faces are the ones gracing our page here.