Arlee Celebration: Honoring the past while preserving the future
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ARLEE — Allen Pierre remembers attending Arlee Celebration when he was a little boy. He recalls the crowds were smaller and old-style dances more prominent. Now 45, Pierre still attends the powwow, dressed in Native American regalia as he sings with his family drum group Bear Spirit.
“Arlee Celebration brings together all the different nations and shares our culture and our beautiful reservation with them,” Pierre said.
The 113th Annual Arlee Celebration held June 30 to July 4 drew more than 300 dancers and thousands of spectators and honored the traditional and the modern with competition dancing and Old Style Day. On Old Style Day, dances such as the Scalp Dance, War Dance, Gift Dance and the Canvas Dance are featured.
“There is no competition dancing and no competition drumming on this day,” organizer Clara Charlo explained.
Charlo, a 68-year-old member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes, has attended Arlee Celebration since she was a child. She explained that the old dances highlight local culture. She said the Gift Dance would traditionally occur when people wanted to give a gift to someone and they would dance in a round dance. She explained the Canvas Dance was practiced when warriors prepared to leave on a hunt or raiding party. The warriors would sing at one camp and go on to the next, where others would join in the singing to help the warrior.
Charlo said honoring these old dances is important, as is honoring elders in the community, which they do every year. This year’s honored elders include Louie Adams, Sophie Haynes, John Stanislaw and Janie Wabaunsee.
Newer additions to the traditional celebration include competition dancing, which feature dances like fancy and jingle dress, and take place on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
The 4th of July parade this year honored veterans and included a flyover by F15 fighter jets out of Great Falls. In addition to food and crafts vendors, the celebration also featured a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, rodeo and stick games.
“It just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” Pierre said of the events taking place during the weekend.
The increase in attendance is one of the things that have kept John Meninick and his family, from Lenore, Idaho, coming back to Arlee Celebration for the past 20 years.
“We always come back here instead,” Meninick said of his family’s decision to attend Arlee Celebration over several powwows going on throughout the region during July 4th weekend.
Meninick took fourth last year in the men’s traditional category and competed again this year. His family also runs a vendor booth at the powwow.
“There were a lot of people here the first day,” Meninick said. “I was surprised.”
Meninick said another reason his family returns is to see all their old friends and meet new ones. He said the hospitality of the community is welcoming and he likes the covered arbor.
“A powwow really isn’t a powwow until you come to one like this,” he said.
