Rocky Boy Powwow kicks off

The 50th Annual Rocky Boy Powwow and Celebration began today with the rodeo school and will be in full swing beginning Thursday.

The powwow celebrations begin Thursday with the youth powwow at the Sybil Sangrey-Colliflower Memorial Arena to prepare fairgoers for the main event of the celebration: the Rocky Boy Powwow, which will begin at 6 p.m. Friday and continue past the last grand entry at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Dustin Whitford, one of the main organizers of the event, said that he expects a huge crowd this year, especially for the Saturday grand entries, which will bring all the day’s dancers through the powwow grounds to dance one song in a flurry of color and culture.

There will be many styles of dance at this year’s powwow, including one never seen at the Rocky Boy Celebration.

The head woman dancer, Anita Top Sky, will be performing a dance that has increased in popularity in other powwows. The cowboy hat and boot special, which encompasses cowboy culture with the traditional Native American culture, is slated for Saturday night as the head dancers show their special dances.

There will be many other events and entertainments throughout the week, such as the Ultimate Warrior Challenge, which will pit competitors against one another in a series of relays for miles. The event begins at 10 a.m. at Bonneau Dam. Last year’s competition was grueling for its competitors as they had to run, ride a horse and swim for miles before shooting a target with a bow and arrow.

Friday also will bring the sobriety walk from the agency to the powwow grounds at 9 a.m. and the first day of the Indian National Finals Rodeo-sanctioned rodeo at the Sybil Sangrey-Colliflower Arena. The rodeo, which runs through the championship rounds Sunday, is expected to have somewhere around 250 to 350 competitors this year from all around the country.

The Chippewa Cree Rodeo Association INFR Tour Rodeo is but one stop in the INFR tour. The final competition in the INFR is Nov. 4 to 8 in Las Vegas.

The youth rodeo is 4 p.m. Thursday at the arena.

There are many other events slated to entertain those at the 2014 Rocky Boy Celebration and the events are expected to bring thousands to the area to take part in them. Visitors come from all around the country and from other countries, as well, to watch and take part in the vivid display of Chippewa Cree culture.

Check out the special section in today’s issue of the Havre Daily News(http://issuu.com/havrenews/docs/rocky_boy_pow-wow_2014) for more information about what is going on at the Rocky Boy Celebration this year.