Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 19, 1993 TAG: 9307190043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SEDALIA LENGTH: Medium
"We had 4,000 people register in the first hour," said Branham, wearing a traditional Indian smock.
For the Monacans, this was the big test. They knew other Indian tribes would treat them as legitimate; they didn't know how their neighbors and co-workers would respond.
The answer came early Saturday, as people from surrounding Bedford County and other neighboring communities overwhelmed the Sedalia Center's parking areas. Traffic on Virginia 122 was routinely held up Saturday as cars filed in and out of the powwow throughout the day.
"It's easily going to be over 10,000 [visitors] today," said Bert Wade, executive director of the cultural center. "We had to fill up the neighboring Sedalia church parking, then I understand they had to start moving cows out of a field."
The Sedalia Center is at the base of Terrapin Mountain, which provided a dramatic backdrop for the Sioux tepees set up along one edge of the grounds.
At the powwow were craft vendors - selling everything from silver-and-turquoise jewelry to tobacco twists - and food tents featuring buffalo burgers. But the focus of the powwow was the dance contest, set to the rhythm of Indian drumming and chanting.
Indians from tribes throughout the state and the East Coast competed in traditional and "fancy" dance categories for $5,000 in prize money.
The money spent on prize money would be more than offset by admission funds collected - an adult ticket cost $5.
This was the first powwow put together by the Monacans, though people from the Amherst County-based tribe have attended powwows sponsored by other Virginia tribes.
The Monacans vow to use the profits from the powwow to buy 200 acres on Bear Mountain in Amherst County. When the tribe received official state recognition in 1989, members signed away their right to sue the state to get their homeland back.
This weekend, tribe members not only got a good start at buying back the land, but they also found out that their neighbors finally have recognized the Monacans for what they are - the first pioneers of the Piedmont region.
by CNB