No Pow Wow Between the Lakes for 2024, upgraded version planned for 2025

Kristine Jack, executive director of long-time Pow Wow Between the Lakes organizing body Four Seasons Cultural Society, has confirmed there'll be no 2024 edition of the event.

The news comes less than a year after the pow wow famously moved from its most recent home at the Outma Sqilx'w Cultural School on the PIB Reserve to the South Okanagan Events Centre, partnering with the City of Penticton and setting an all-time attendance record in the process.

But when iconic PIB Elder Grace Greyeyes passed away in November, the stage was set.

"Due to our protocol as First Nations people, we have to mourn for a year when we lose a loved one," said Jack. "So we're not permitted to do any sort of ceremony."

Jack is firmly connected to all elements of the story. Not only does she run the organization overseeing the event, she's also the biological daughter of Greyeyes.

And her pow wow connections run even deeper than that. According to Jack, she was raised, for the most part, by respected PIB member Clara Jack, who in the 1970s played the key role in establishing the Pow Wow Between the Lakes precursor, the "Four Seasons War Dance Club."

Fortunately for fans of the event, Jack says the 2025 iteration will be worth the wait -- if it all comes together.

"We really look forward to 2025," she said. "We want to bring five different events to the pow wow.

"The salmon barbecue, which used to be with the pow wow in the '70s, is coming back. They also had a stick game tournament and salmon feast back then. We hope to bring both back as well.

"And we'd like to do a native golf tournament and native slow-pitch tournament. We’ve also been talking about doing some canoe races, but we're hoping we can look at how we'd do that as we get further into organization."

Jack says all of the above would fall on the same weekend, which right now is scheduled to be June 20 through June 22, 2025.

"We'll call it 'SnPink'tn Days,'" she said. "It'll be awesome."

But it's not yet firmed up.

"I'm still meeting with people," said Jack. "But we should have everything more concrete within a few weeks."

For more info on the Four Seasons Cultural Society, head to its Facebook page here.