SEMINOLE \u2014 What started in 1967 as a chicken barbecue to raise $8,000 for lights at Seminole High School has grown into a four-day festival that draws about 10,000 people a year.<\/p>\n
The 57th annual Pow Wow Festival runs Thursday-Sunday, March 12-15, at the Seminole Recreation Center, 9100 113th St. N. Admission is free.<\/p>\n
The biggest addition this year is a lip sync battle on Saturday evening, with $200 for first place and $150 for second. Solo acts, duos and groups can compete. The entry fee is $10, but only 15 slots are available, and organizers expect them to fill quickly. Interested performers should register at the recreation center before the event.<\/p>\n
The battle replaces the trike race from previous years.<\/p>\n
“We thought it would be a big draw and enhance the festival,” said Ashley Frydrych, recreation program coordinator for the city of Seminole.<\/p>\n
Ben Feller State Farm is sponsoring the stage and helping fund the prize money.<\/p>\n
The festival opens Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. with rides, games and food, then expands Friday through Sunday with live entertainment and vendors. The carnival typically brings 22 to 25 rides.<\/p>\n
Luminosity, a ’90s rock band, headlines Friday at 8 p.m. Saturday’s schedule includes a dance demo by Vibe Dance Studio at 12:30 p.m., a performance by Autum June at 3 p.m., the lip sync battle at 5:30 p.m. and ’80s act Careless Whisper at 8 p.m. Fireworks from local business All Smiles cap off Saturday night at 9 p.m.<\/p>\n
Sunday is billed as Family Fun Day, anchored by a Pride of Wrestling show at 2 p.m. and a character meet and greet.<\/p>\n
Eight food vendors will be on-site, including Zesty Tomato, Rita’s, Arnold’s Carnival Pizza, Memphis BBQ and Shane’s Suga Shack Sweets and World-Famous Chicken Teriyaki. Nine nonfood vendors selling jewelry, clothing and other goods round out the midway.<\/p>\n
Ride wristbands are $25 on Thursday and Sunday, $30 on Friday and Saturday. They will be sold only at the festival.<\/p>\n
Parking is available at the St. Petersburg College Seminole campus, the Seminole Community Library, City Hall and the post office.<\/p>\n
Hours: Thursday, 5-9 p.m.; Friday, 5-11 p.m.; Saturday, noon-11 p.m.; Sunday, noon-7 p.m.<\/p>\n
A barbecue, a name and nearly six decades<\/p>\n
The Pow Wow Festival traces its roots to a fundraising effort by the Seminole Volunteer Firefighters and the Seminole High School Boosters Club. Cat Mangum, wife of fire department president Holland Mangum, suggested calling the event “Pow Wow.” The name stuck.<\/p>\n
That first year, organizers added a parade with 45 units and raised $1,600. Carnival rides arrived in 1970 \u2014 the same year Seminole incorporated as a city. The city marks its 56th year this November.<\/p>\n
Two years after the inaugural event, the festival drew Chief Joe Dan Osceola, chief of the Seminole Tribe in Florida and a direct descendant of the famous Chief Osceola. He served as parade grand marshal and presented Holland Mangum with a handmade tribal vest, along with a written blessing for the community. Both items are held by the Seminole Historical Society.<\/p>\n
Frydrych said the festival’s staying power comes down to something simple.<\/p>\n
“I think the camaraderie within the community gives this event its staying power,” she said. “It’s a safe place and there is a lot of trust. We have great events and entertainment.”<\/p>\n
A look at the land’s deeper past<\/p>\n
As part of the Pow Wow, the Seminole Historical Society will host a tent with presentations on the area’s Native American history Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. Dr. Roger Block, a historian and educator who has served as president of the Trail of Florida’s Indian Heritage, will discuss the Tocobaga, the Indigenous people who inhabited the Tampa Bay region for centuries before European contact.<\/p>\n
The Tocobaga lived in villages around Tampa Bay, building shell temple mounds and relying on the area’s rich coastal waters for food. Spanish explorers first encountered them in the 1520s. By the early 1700s, disease and conflict had wiped out the Tocobaga as a distinct people.<\/p>\n
The tent will also feature a Shaman mannequin in authentic dress and presentations on Seminole history by museum docents.<\/p>\n