Dix Park Inter-Tribal Pow Wow returns this weekend

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Dix Park Inter-Tribal Pow Wow returns Saturday, May 30, from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Harvey Hill, bringing a day of competition dancing, drumming, vendors, music and cultural celebration to Dorothea Dix Park.

Presented in partnership with Triangle Native American Society, the pow wow showcases the legacy and living culture of Indigenous communities across North Carolina.

For Jesalyn Keziah, executive director of Triangle Native American Society and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the event is both a gathering for Native communities and an invitation for others to learn.

"I'm here representing Triangle Native American Society, which is our local organization serving our very large Native population here in the Triangle," Keziah said. "We do have folks here from all over the state, all of our tribal nations, all of our urban Indian organizations and our friends from across the country."

Keziah said pow wows are one of the best ways for people to experience Native culture directly.

"The best way to get involved is actually to come out to some of our Native events," Keziah said. "Pow wows are one of the best ways that you can come out and meet a wide array of the community, see our performers, see our dancers, experience the regalia from different tribes, taste some of our food and get to meet some of the business members of our community."

This year's event includes Grand Entry, intertribal dancing, Tiny Tots, youth contests, social dancing, hoop dancing, teen and adult contests, special performances and closing songs.

Trey Roberts, a former Dix Park Conservancy community engagement manager who now serves as outreach manager for Triangle Native American Society, said the event carries a special meaning because of where it happens.

"I think this pow wow is important because it's in the center of the capital in North Carolina, and we're inviting all the tribes here to celebrate their culture," Roberts said. "It is organized by Native people, it is for Native people to celebrate their culture, but it is allowing the public to come in also to witness it and experience it and learn about it as well."

Roberts, an enrolled member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe, is now listed by Triangle Native American Society as the lead organizer behind the Dix Park Inter-Tribal Pow Wow.

"The history of Dix Park is layered, and one of those layers is Native American history," Roberts said. "This is an opportunity for us to transform this park from the past to the present, and what it could be is a place of celebration."

For Roberts, the pow wow also challenges the idea that Native culture belongs only to the past.

"I want people to know that Native people are still here," Roberts said. "A lot of people talk about us as sepia-tone photos, like we're in the past. Native culture is still around, and it's evolved with the times as well."

The gathering brings together dancers, artists, vendors and visitors from across the region.

Jayla McKenzie Locklear, who served as Miss Indian North Carolina in 2023, said the pow wow creates a sense of family across tribal communities.

"We may all come from different tribes, but we are all here for the same purpose," Locklear said. "We're all supporting each other and here for each other."

Locklear said visitors can expect singing around the drum, different styles of dance, Native vendors and food. She said pow wows are also a chance for people who have never experienced Native culture to learn in a welcoming space.

"You're going to see unity, you're going to see family," Locklear said. "Pow wows are full-circle, full-family events. We may not be blood related, but we are related in our Indigenous ways."

For some attendees, the event is also a place of reconnection.

Emily Holmes, a member of the Coharie Tribe who dances at pow wows, said she did not grow up going to pow wows or ceremonies, partly because older generations in her family had lived through discrimination and were not encouraged to pass those traditions down.

"Pow wows and get-togethers like this are really important for us because it helps us to reconnect to our culture," Holmes said. "There are a lot of people who are on that same journey, that haven't done it their whole lives, that are reconnecting."

Raven Dial-Stanley, a member of the Lumbee Tribe, said the gathering carries extra weight because it gives Native communities a visible place to carry on traditions in the state capital.

"It's such a monumental thing that not only are we able to have this pow wow and carry on these traditions and show to not just North Carolina, but to the country that we are still here despite any adversity," Dial-Stanley said.

Dial-Stanley said pow wows also help show the diversity of Native communities.

"I think a lot of times, especially in Hollywood and in our federal government, they like to band Indigenous people in this one box, and it's like we are all supposed to look the same, sound the same and dress the same," Dial-Stanley said. "That's far from it."

Keziah said that visibility matters.

"We've really fought invisibility for a long time," Keziah said. "So visibility, even just getting to know who are the Indigenous people in your community, what organizations are there, what tribes are there, what urban organizations are there, what organizations are there at the local colleges and universities that you can support."

She said the pow wow reflects values that Indigenous communities have long carried, including community, togetherness, intergenerational learning, care for the environment and care for one another.

"I think it's such a profound moment right now," Keziah said. "It's hard even to find words to describe what is happening in this shift of visibility, in this shift of people who are looking to Indigenous community and realizing that we have so much to share."