Alma Lovato
Posted March 27, 2025
This past weekend, the 49th Annual Denver March Powwow hosted more than 1,500 dancers–and probably more–and many vendors, who sell their art and Indigenous themed goods. This event is highly anticipated by not only the Colorado Indigenous community, but also by the communities of close to 100 other tribal nations from 38 states and three Canadian provinces, as stated by the Powwow organization website. This is clear as one walks through the Denver Coliseum parking lot, where the Powwow is hosted, and one can see cars sporting license plates from many different states. The most noticeable car in the parking lot for this author was a truck bearing Arizona license plates, and hand painted in large yellow print were statements such as, “Remember Emily Pike,” and “Justice for MMIW,” along with red handprints. “MMIW” is a well-known abbreviation for “Missing, Murdered, Indigenous Women” and is represented by the red handprint which signifies the silence surrounding Native communities and the high rates of violence towards Native women. Emily Pike was a beautiful 14 year-old girl of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, who was reported missing, then found murdered this past Valentine’s Day.
Powwows are celebrations of joy, and a celebration of resilience as well.
To be Indigenous in America, is to live within a system that has enacted and is built by violence upon Indigenous people. To survive such a system, Indigenous people celebrate life and culture while remembering those who have been lost by the injustices of this system. This is clearly evident at the Denver March Powwow, where attendees make injustice known and celebrate culture simultaneously, as exemplified by the painted Arizona Truck.
To be Indigenous in America, is to live within a system that has enacted and is built by violence upon Indigenous people.
According to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, there are 574 Federally recognized American Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages in the United States.
Powwow dancing does not represent traditional Indigenous dances of every nation, but rather it has become its own culturally significant gathering to bring attention to Indigenous pride and resilience. The regalia of each dancer is unique and bears beading and quillwork that represent the dancer’s nation. The Sioux Nation, also known as Oceti Sakowin, often have beaded images of running horses or bison on their regalia. Northern nations like the Anishinaabe have trailing vines and floral patterns on their regalia.
Powwows are their own cultural events, and there are different categories of Powwow dancing. At the Denver March Powwow, there were cash prizes for each category. People of different Indigenous nations competed in these categories, but they all danced together for Grand Entry, considered by many the main event of the Powwow.
The Coliseum parking lot is packed right before 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., the posted times of each Grand Entry of the weekend.
If you have not claimed a seat for yourself and family with a blanket draped over the chairs for latecomers, you are not alone, and you will probably be passed by a dancer still donning pieces of their regalia as they make their way to Grand Entry. The different drum groups await the announcer to call out their drum group’s name to pick up the song where the previous drummers ended. Their songs can be felt in one’s chest as the circle of dancers grows bigger and greater.
As Thomas stated from the 1998 movie, Smoke Signals, “it seemed like every Indian in the world was there.”
Alma Lovato is a Colorado native.
