Powwow Saturday

This weekend we headed out to Central Newfoundland, for the second time this summer, to attend the annual Micmac Powwow at Conne River!

Conne River is a two hour drive from Lewisporte, where we were staying for the weekend. The route to Conne River was very scenic, with a bit of fog making the landscape all the more atmospheric (we're really trying hard to look for a bright side to fog in August). Aside from some rough patches here and there along the highway, it was smooth sailing all the way, and we arrived at the Powwow shortly before the festivities began for the day.

The Micmac (or Mi'kmaq) community at Conne River (or Miawpukek) have been holding an annual Powwow on the Reserve since 1995. The event has become a popular attraction for people throughout the province. After some warm up singing, drumming and dancing, the participants of the Grand Entrance Parade lined up ready to begin the main festivities. The regalia on display were amazing. There were groups of men dressed in elaborate feathered regalia for dancing, women with their fancy shawls, and the chief leading the parade with his magnificent headdress.

After the parade, during which the participants walked and danced their way around the central arbour, the singing, dancing and drumming then continued almost non-stop for the rest of the afternoon. More and more people showed up at the site as time went on, making for a very lively and interesting event.

We explored the arts and crafts stalls surrounding the central ceremonial area, and lunched on some fish and chips, before heading off for a short hike. Right beside the site of the Powwow there were several trails, one of which climbed very steeply to the top of Clem's Lookout. Scrambling to the top, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the Conne River valley and the Powwow below. As high up as we were, the drumming and singing were still very clear, although we were completely immersed in nature.

After descending from the lookout, we set off to explore the community of Conne River and surrounding area. We had the opportunity to skip some rocks and walk around the sea floor at low tide, exploring this stunning part of the province that is known as the "Coast of Bays".

We drove back to Lewisporte that night and on Sunday we did a bit more exploring of the area around Lewisporte before starting the journey back to town.

All in all, it was another busy, but enjoyable, weekend exploring Central Newfoundland. The Powwow in particular was a great event to see and it is something that we have been looking forward to for a while. A couple of years ago, we attended a musical aboriginal fundraising showcase called Spirit Song, which was just a small sample of what we experienced on Saturday.

Here are some more pictures from our weekend:

Curious what we were doing this time last year? Well, we had a weekend full of activities which included Elizabeth opening a time capsule that she created when she was 13, plus a couple of shows around town.

And two years ago this week we visited Cupids Cove Plantation, an archaeological dig and Provincial Historic Site, and had our annual family reunion at the cabin.