Totally Texas -- Drums & dancers: it’s pow wow time!

51^st Annual National Championship Indian Pow Wow

Traders Village, 2602 Mayfield Road, Grand Prairie

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It’s pow wow time again at Traders Village in Grand Prairie. Sponsored by the Dallas/Fort Worth Inter-Tribal Association, the 51^st Annual National Championship Indian Pow Wow opens tonight, September 7, through Sunday, September 8. Arts and crafts shows and food booths featuring fry bread, Indian tacos and more, open at 6 p.m. tonight in the Green Expo Building at the west end of the grounds.

Artists and vendors from across the country will bring jewelry, pottery, baskets, painting, rugs, clothing and more for show and sale.

Dance contests, with host Pawnee host drummer Jason Lightfoot, run from 8 - 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. and 7 - 11 p.m. Saturday, and 1 -5 p.m. Sunday. Dancers from dozens of tribes will compete, in full regalia of feathers, buckskin, beadwork and bells will compete in the arena adjacent to the Green Expo building.

Dance categories are based on age, sex, and style. Traders Village is also sponsoring contests for men’s straight dancing and women’s jingle dress dancing. Despite the name, “straight dancing” involves some of the most elaborate regalia, with details of each dancer’s outfit unique to his style. Jingle dresses are sewn with hundreds of tiny, triangular bells.

A posting on Pow Wow Calendar notes that everyone is welcome to dance, but a CDIB card is required for contest eligibility.

Entry to Traders Village and the pow wow events is free. Parking is $3. The Village is huge, and so is the parking lot, so wear comfortable shoes. The village has ATMs, stroller rentals, carnival rides and games, and everything you could want at a huge flea market. For more information, see “51^st Annual National Championship Indian Pow Wow” on Facebook or http://tradersvillage.com/.

(Next Friday -- the fall festival season unofficially opens, with a roundup of some of my old and new favorites.)

Totally Texas -- PowWow dancing all weekend

50^th Annual Championship Indian PowWow

Traders Village

2606 Mayfield Road

Grand Prairie, Texas

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Hundreds of Native American dancers participate tonight through Sunday afternoon in nearly two dozen separate dances celebrating the 50^th Annual Championship Indian PowWow at Grand Prairie’s Traders Village.

To the music of singers and drummers, dancers in dress regalia you have to see to believe will compete for prizes in single and team events, beginning with the grand entry at 8 o’clock tonight. The Kiowa tribe’s Terry Tsotigh provides additional entertainment during the weekend with his award-winning Indian flute and harmonica music. Head singer for the dancing is Jason Lightfoot.

Dance contests are scheduled for 8 p.m. - 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 7-11 p.m. Saturday, with “Tiny Tots” dancers (up to age 6), sponsored by KNON 89.3’s “Beyond Bows & Arrows” crew, dancing Saturday morning. Dancing Sunday is from 1 -5 p.m. All dances are in the arena on the west side. Friday’s night entry should escape the worst of the heat, and the Weather Channel predicts cooler temperatures for the rest of the weekend.

During and between dances, you can shop the arts and crafts show at the nearby covered Green Expo pavilion. Show hours are 6 p.m. until midnight (approximately) Friday, 10 a.m. until midnight (approximately) Saturday, and 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Sunday. Arts and crafts available for sale include jewelry, pottery, baskets, paintings and other artwork, rugs, clothing, and more. If last year’s was an indication, vendors will also offer beads, feathers and other supplies for crafters.

You can check out the teepee exhibit for a close-up of traditional shelter. And of course, you can eat, at booths selling fry bread, Indian tacos, corn soup and more.

The powwow is sponsored by the Dallas/Fort Worth Inter-Tribal Association. It’s free, but there's a $3 per vehicle fee to park at Traders Village.

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Want more powwow? Try the KNON Benefit PowWow Saturday, October 6, at Four Winds Park in Springtown, Texas. Programming at community radio station KNON (89.3 FM) includes Sunday evening’s Beyond Bows & Arrows, with hosts Albert Old Crow and Harold Rogers. Dancing begins at 2 p.m. with food, raffles, arts and crafts. For more information, see “Beyond Bows & Arrows” on Facebook.

Totally Texas -- Chinasaurs' last roar

Museum of Nature and Science, Fair Park

3535 Grand Avenue, Dallas

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Today is your last chance to see the exhibit of dinosaur fossils from China at the Museum of Nature and Science in Fair Park. The museum will be open today until 6 p.m. for the final day of its extended summer hours. The exhibit -- labeled “Chinasaurs” -- includes twenty of the most recently-discovered fossils as well as fossilized dinosaur nests and eggs and five animatronic reconstructions. One of the animated dinosaurs is Velociraptor, who’s had a makeover since the movie Jurassic Park made him famous.

If you're not too unnerved after all that, include a showing of the museum’s IMAX film Sea Rex in your visit. All this is in addition to the museum’s regular fossils and plenty of other family-friendly exhibits. My grandsons were thrilled to see a simulated tornado on a recent visit. As they said, now they know what the thing they had to hide in the closet from last spring actually looks like. For more information and IMAX show times, see www.natureandscience.org/

In all, 2011 has been a great year for dinosaur lovers in North Texas. The Museum of Nature and Science had hardly moved its exhibit of life-size animatronic dinosaurs out the door this spring before welcoming the Chinese dinosaur fossils. This summer saw the announcement of a locally-found sea crocodile fossil named Terminonaris. Okay, it wasn’t a dinosaur, but the twenty-five foot long croc probably ran into a few dinosaurs while hanging around Texas 96 million years ago.

And despite the devastation of this year’s drought, low waters on the Paluxy River should make for good viewing of the fossil tracks at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose. See www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/dinosaur_valley/ or my “Tracking the wild sauropod” post from April 4 in the blog archives for more information.

Those who still can’t get enough of dinosaurs will be glad to know the Heard Natural History Museum in McKinney plans to open its outdoor exhibit of animatronics in October. For information and directions to the Heard, see www.heardmuseum.org/

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Already planning your next weekend? The 49^th Annual National Championship Indian Pow Wow meets this Friday through Sunday, September 9-11 at Traders Village in Grand Prairie. For directions and a schedule of events, see
http://tradersvillage.com/