Choctaw Nation
Kelsey Brown
DURANT – The Choctaw Pow Wow returns this weekend after last year’s postponement due to COVID-19 precautions.
Opening three-days of activities will be Choctaw Cultural Day at the new Choctaw Cultural Center on Friday, Dec. 3. The 2021 Choctaw Pow Wow competition takes place Saturday, Dec. 4 and Sunday, Dec. 5 at the Choctaw Event Center.
Added Cultural Center participation and prize money totaling more than $120,000 for contestants make this one of the Choctaw Nation’s and southeast Oklahoma’s largest and most anticipated events of the year.
On Dec. 3, starting at 10 a.m., the Choctaw Cultural Center will offer Hymnal Singing, sessions on Choctaw culture, and a stickball exhibition. Gourd dancing will take place from 4 – 8 p.m. The Choctaw Day activities are included with paid admission rates to the Choctaw Cultural Center. A menu of traditional Choctaw foods can be purchased in the center’s Champuli Café.
Also, on Dec. 4, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., a series of Exhibition Stickball Games will be held with men, women, and youth players at the Choctaw Cultural Center Stickball Field.
On Dec. 4 and 5 at the Choctaw Event Center, the Choctaw Pow Wow will host a full slate of competitions for traditional Native dancers and drums from as far away as California and Canada. Recent pow wows have drawn as many as 600 dancers representing 30 different tribes from across North America. Dozens of local artists, craftsmen and food concessionaires will be on hand. Admission and parking are free to the public. Bleacher seating is available, and people may bring chairs to sit on the dance-floor level.
Grand Entries will be held at noon and 7 p.m. on Saturday to begin intertribal dancing. On Sunday, a church service is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. with the Grand Entry beginning at noon.
For contest guidelines and registration forms, and updates:
