In the Cariboo, there are moments that pull a community together.

A rink filling before a hockey game. A rodeo grandstand at sunset. A farmers’ market on a Saturday morning.

And then there is Grand Entry at a pow wow.

The drums begin first. Deep and steady beneath your feet. Then dancers enter the arbor in motion and colour — beadwork, jingles, ribbon skirts, bustles — each one carrying family, identity, and tradition with them. Elders, children, singers, veterans, parents, tiny dancers trying to match the steps of the adults beside them. The entire space feels alive.

Across the Cariboo, pow wows are important gatherings that celebrate culture, community, resilience, and connection. They are places where traditions are shared and carried forward, where language and song remain strong, and where generations come together.

At the Chief William Pow Wow Arbor in T’exelc, Williams Lake First Nation hosts annual Traditional and Competition Pow Wows that welcome dancers, drummers, families, and visitors from across the province and beyond. The community also hosts regular pow wow nights to help keep songs, dancing, and culture active between larger gatherings.

Further north, the Lhtako Dene Nation has brought new energy and celebration to the region through a pow wow gathering near Quesnel — events grounded in honouring the past while celebrating the future.

But pow wow culture in the Cariboo extends far beyond a single community or a single weekend.

In winter, the Thomas Dueck Traditional/Educational Pow Wow fills the gym at Columneetza Junior Secondary School in Williams Lake. Students, families, drummers, dancers, and community members gather together in a space that blends education, celebration, pride, and cultural sharing. For many young people, it is both a joyful event and an important opportunity to learn through participation and presence.

Across the region, other communities continue these traditions through their own gatherings and celebrations — including events hosted by Esk’etemc, Tsq’escen/Canim Lake, and the RSES Pow Wow at Canoe Creek Arbour. Each gathering has its own spirit, history, and protocols, shaped by the nations and families who host them. Together, they form part of the living cultural heartbeat of the Cariboo.

For many people in the Cariboo, attending a pow wow is both a celebration and a learning experience. Visitors are welcomed into spaces that are joyful and vibrant, but also deeply meaningful. There is an understanding that these gatherings are not performances put on for an audience. They are living cultural events rooted in community, protocol, family, and pride.

And yet there is also laughter everywhere.

Kids running between camp chairs. Cousins reconnecting. Aunties visiting beside vendor tables. Teenagers trying not to smile while dancing. Families sharing food in the shade. The atmosphere feels celebratory, generous, and open.

There is artistry in every detail. Beadwork that took hundreds of hours to create. Regalia passed between generations. Songs that carry history and identity. Around the arbor, culture is not something tucked away in the past. It is present, evolving, and alive.

In the Cariboo, people often talk about community. Pow wows are one of the clearest expressions of what that actually means.

Showing up.

Sharing space.

Honouring culture.

Welcoming others respectfully.

Carrying traditions forward together.

And once you have felt the drum echo across the valley, watched the dancers enter the arbor, and sat among hundreds of people gathered together on a summer afternoon, it becomes something you carry with you too.

Cariboo. It’s true.