Festival ‘time to put away those negative things’

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This article was published 01/02/2016 (3859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The chief of Sioux Valley Dakota Nation has dubbed this year’s Dakota Nation Winterfest a success.

The weekend featured minor and adult hockey tournaments, volleyball tournaments, a strongman competition, moccasin games, a talent show, competition powwow and bingo.

The festival calls itself the largest celebration of aboriginal culture and sport under one roof, which is why the crowds turn up, says Sioux Valley Chief Vincent Tacan.

“The teamwork aspect, the new friendships that are developed here over the weekend,” Tacan said.

Tacan said the festival is also good at mixing in activities other than hockey, and that more and more people who come for to see a hockey game will take in the talent show or powwow as well.

“It happens at the right time because January is usually not the greatest time of the year — it’s cold and whatever else. It’s a time to put away those negative things and come out a bit of the depression of the wintertime. It signals the start of the new year as well. I think people look forward to it. A lot of folks from north come down,” he said.

This year attracted some notable NHLers, including Conn Smythe Trophy winner Reggie Leach and current Calgary Flames forward Michael Ferland.

Ferland knows Brandon well. The Swan River native donned a Wheat Kings jersey for part of his major junior career and is an alumnus of the Winterfest hockey tournament.

“In his opening comments, he said he came to this tournament and has been playing here since he was eight years old,” Tacan said.

The chief said he’s exactly the kind of role model the hundreds of young hockey players can look up to. This year’s tournament saw teams from as far away as Alberta and Ontario play more than 140 games over the weekend.

Jean Redman, of Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask. agrees. She and her husband were watching their grandson take to the Westman Centre ice with the Standing Buffalo atom hockey team for a quarterfinal match against The Pas Blues.

“It’s great. This is his first time (here) and he wanted to play in this area, here. Now he got his chance,” she said.

Redman first came to the festival three decades ago.

The powwow attracted entries from as far away as California and Colorado this year, Tecan said.

The slumping Canadian dollar made the weekend a lot cheaper for American visitors, which gave guests from south of the border a reason to make the trip up.

The weekend was also a big draw with political figures, Manitoba premier Greg Selinger and Liberal leader Rana Bokhari participated the grand entry to the powwow on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

The chief said he would have liked to see more Brandonites check out the spectacle for themselves.

“We still have some folks in the Brandon area that think that this is an aboriginal-only event. I often come to the rodeo or Ag Days and nobody says, ‘hey you can’t come here because you’re aboriginal.’ so why wouldn’t someone feel welcome to come and checkout the Winterfest? Come, pay your ten bucks, come in: there’s a lot to see here,” he said.

Part of the issue may be with Brandon’s Winter Festival, formerly known as the Lt. Governor’s Festival, an eight-pavilion culture crawl that ran from Thursday to Saturday evening.

Tecan said some attendees had trouble getting hotel rooms, which may have been because of the conflicting events.

Next year, the chief said organizers from the two groups will sit down and better coordinate their dates.

Tacan said a final number on attendance had yet to be tabulated but the crowds looks strong, especially on Saturday. For the first time, the organizing committee will be preparing an economic benefit analysis of this year’s festival.

“This is a source of pride for the community, our kids look forward to it, practice for it, they’re excited about it,” Tacan said.

» tbateman@brandonsun.com

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