WIL PHINNEY
TCOC Committee
PENDLETON – More than 500 dancers and drummers competed over three days at the Two Cultures – One Community Powwow (TCOC) in Pendleton Feb. 28 – March 2.
Dancers and drummers came mostly from the Western states – Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho and Montana, but also from as far away as Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada and Window Rock, Arizona.
Attendance for all three days was estimated to exceed 10,000.
The four-session event boasted 32 winners ranging from Tiny Tots under age 6 to Golden Age men and women, many in their 80s. In addition to prize money for the top four in each category, winners received custom-made silver buckles engraved with the TCOC logo.
The powwow featured three unique contests, including a Boot-and-Hat dance won by Hiyuum Black Eagle, a student at Nixyáawii Community School (NCS) on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and a men’s fancy Calcutta won by Liam Beebe from Toppenish. Those two dances, plus a couples western swing, were crowd favorites.
Dancin’ Dougie Hall, an Indian cowboy, social media influencer and entrepreneur, highlighted the boot-and-hat dance contest, and stayed in town to speak with NCS students on March 2.
The Shooters won the drum contest among nine competing groups. This year’s host drum, Wild Rose, was not part of the contest.
Pendleton Mayor McKennon McDonald and several Pendleton City Council members welcomed participants on opening night. The Happy Canyon and Pendleton Round-Up Courts, as well as members of the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Boards of Directors, also attended the powwow.
More than three dozen vendors came, hailing from as far away as Minnesota, North Dakota and New Mexico to sell everything from antique horse riggings to T-shirts to beef jerky. The vendors filled two big rooms at the Pendleton Convention Center. Guests were also treated to food trucks outside and a concession stand inside for an array of refreshments.
This was the second annual TCOC Powwow, the brainchild of Pat Beard, manager of the Pendleton Convention Center and Fred Hill Sr., a traditional leader for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). The mission of the committee-based powwow is to promote tradition while bringing the cowboy-and-Indian community together.
The TCOC Committee is made up of volunteers that represent the CTUIR as well as the city of Pendleton. Committee members included Co-Chairs Beard and Hill, plus Terri Carnes, Melinda Broncheau, Kara Woolsey, Daisy Minthorn, Sherri Round, Lisa Ganuelas, Kaeleen McGuire and Wil Phinney.
Powwow Head Staff included host drum Wild Rose, announcers Ruben Little Head and Mike Sanchez, arena director Alex Meninick, judges Acosia Red Elk and Colin Chief, drum judge Jesse Redsky Bevis and special guest Hall.
Nixyáawii Community Financial Services partnered as a fiduciary agent with TCOC on the event with several other sponsors, including AWS, Marathon Oil, Travel Oregon, City of Pendleton, CTUIR, Lydig, Wildhorse Resort & Casino, McCormack Construction, Ulrich Investments, Pacific Northwest Iron Workers, Umatilla County, Wenaha Group, Pendleton Round-Up, Port of Kennewick and Tri-City Development Corporation.
