Floridatown Park was the location of the Santa Rosa County Creek Indians’ 24th annual Pow Wow. The event featured tribal dances accompanied by three different drum circles, as well as several food and craft vendors. Chief Tom Nichols said he is considering retirement next year with the tribal grounds construction underway. In October, the tribe received one of ten Pensacola Bay Area Impact 100 grants in the amount of $102,500 to begin infrastructure work on a permanent plot. Nichols said, “We started with nothing. Now we have 93 acres and 1,200 members. I accomplished what I wanted.”
The ceremony opened with the Grand Entry according to Bill Truax, event announcer. Tribe leaders entered with American and tribe flags followed by members and military veterans, including World War II veteran, 99 year old Paul Baker. Truax said, “This is why we are allowed to be here, because of the veterans. It’s why we’re allowed to have an assembly of people and there are no check points at Wal-Mart.”
The Grand Entry was one of the dances Truax asked not to photograph. He said the center circle at the ceremony was a sacred place, to be treated like a church sanctuary. Santa Rosa County Creek Vice Chief, and Milton City Councilman Lloyd Hinote said, “A pow wow put on properly is like attending church, or reverence, period.”
Dances where photography was allowed included a Friendship Dance, where men in a line followed their lead dancer and the women followed their lead, and a Candy Dance, where children ran for candy on the ground but only while the drumming stopped.
Nichols said, “A pow wow is like a homecoming, a family reunion.” He said members meet and greet family and reenact their culture and heritage lost over the years. Nichols said the tribe was outlawed in the county and forced to Oklahoma. The heritage, he said, was not handed down.
Nichols, who started the tribe in 1990, pointed to a little girl in traditional Native American dress, and said, “That’s what it’s all about. It’s all about children and grand children.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa County Creek Indians held their 24th annual Pow Wow