Stockton's Native American community is gathering this Labor Day weekend for the free, family-friendly Stockton Community Powwow, running Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. at the University of the Pacific's Wendell Phillips Center Lawn. The event celebrates Native American culture, traditions, music, dance, and community, and organizers say it is open to everyone.
According to the City of Stockton, this year's gathering will feature a grand entry, intertribal dancing, and traditional Native American dance, along with Native arts and craft vendors, food vendors, and family activities. Master of ceremonies Randy Pico, a Luiseño tribal member, will guide the proceedings. Pico is a veteran emcee across California who has previously served as head staff for the Chumash Day Powwow, the Pechanga Pow Wow, and the Berkeley Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow, according to the City of Malibu.
Head Woman Sara Moncada, who is Yaqui, brings a wide-ranging résumé to the arena. She serves as Director of Native Ecology with the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, is executive director and CEO of Wise Women Circles, and co-directs Sewam American Indian Dance, per the association's staff listing. Arena Director Eddie Madril, a Pascua Yaqui dancer and American Indian Studies professor at San Francisco State University, co-founded Sewam American Indian Dance alongside Moncada and has presented Plains Indian dance traditions for more than 25 years, according to the Montalvo Arts Center. Madril has also been honored as a KQED American Indian Local Hero and received a California Arts Council Artist-In-Residence grant, the arts center notes.
Head Staff, Royal Court and Drum Groups
This year's royal court includes Kyla Miller as princess, Jupju McCloud as head man, Kaidence Snow Dove Wilson as head teen girl, and Jackson Prado as head teen boy. Feliciana Leroy will serve as junior girl and Declan Ahboah Miller as junior boy, per the city's event listing. The powwow will also include an open gourd session alongside its northern and southern drum groups, with the Braves serving as the northern drum group and So Ex Style as the southern drum group.
Anyone wanting vendor information can reach Terri at (209) 513-4051, while general event questions go to Destiny at (209) 487-3042. Destiny Rivas, the powwow's general contact, also works with Stockton Unified School District's Native American Indian Center and sits on the San Joaquin Urban Native Council, which supports Native youth education and raises awareness around Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, according to the Stockton Unified School District.
Committee Disavows Unauthorized AI Flyer
Ahead of this year's gathering, the Stockton Community Powwow Committee chair issued a public statement disavowing an unauthorized, AI-generated flyer that had circulated online promoting the event. The chair emphasized that Native American communities strongly oppose AI and data center expansions, and noted that powwow protocol strictly requires official promotional art to feature designated head staff or royal court members, according to a statement posted to the Stockton Community UOP Pow Wow Facebook page. Powwow cultural norms generally require organizers to obtain explicit consent, and to provide proper recognition or compensation, when using dancers' images in promotional materials, the same account notes.
Four Decades of Tradition on Campus
The Stockton Community Powwow at the University of the Pacific has been held annually for more than 40 years, having marked its 41st annual gathering in 2022. The event has long been held on the Wendell Phillips Center Lawn, an outdoor venue between the Wendell Phillips Center and the Main Gym that serves as a primary campus site for outdoor community gatherings, per University of the Pacific facility records. Past Labor Day weekend powwows have also had to contend with the Central Valley's punishing early-September heat: during the 2022 gathering, triple-digit temperatures across San Joaquin County forced organizers to open air-conditioned indoor facilities at the university for dancers and visitors, as reported by KCRA 3.
Honoring the Land's Yokuts Roots
The ground beneath the powwow carries its own long history. The land that became modern Stockton was historically inhabited by the Yatchicumne, a subgroup of the Northern Valley Yokuts who established seasonal and permanent mound villages along the Stockton Channel and San Joaquin Delta waterways, according to City of Stockton historical records. The Yokuts once comprised up to 60 distinct tribes across Central California, and 2010 U.S. Census data recorded more than 6,200 people identifying as Yokuts across federally recognized rancherias and communities, the Manteca Bulletin reports. Modern Yokuts descendants belong to federally recognized tribes throughout the state, including the Picayune, Santa Rosa, Table Mountain, and Tule River rancherias, per the same report.
