answer:Many times. I grew up in Indiana, and my mom is part Shawnee and Chickasaw. She’s about ¼ Native American, but didn’t start going to powwow until I was in college. Then, she got into it in a big way. Now she claims to be half Native American, says a spirit wolf follows her everywhere and once tried to attack and kill her, and makes her husband (who is not Native American) sprinkle tobacco on deer carcasses when he goes hunting. She’s a rather disturbed person. Anyway, before my mom went really over the top I did enjoy powwow very much. The dancers are beautiful, fry bread and buffalo burgers are yummy, the arts and crafts are often stunning, and you’d pretty much have to be a rock to be unaffected by the drums and singing to some extent. However, after a while my mother’s behavior at powwow pretty much ruined it for me. It’s a little disgusting how she goes around lying about her heritage and acting like she was raised in Shawnee traditions and brought up my brother and me to know all about our history. In fact, it was just something she mentioned from time to time, the same way she’d mention that her father’s family was originally from Ireland or my dad’s great grandfather was shunned by his wealthy English family for marrying a serving girl. My mom is often asked to be Head Lady Dancer. She made gorgeous buckskin regalia for herself and eats up the attention she gets at powwow. It ruined powwow for me, seeing her prance around acting all phony and lying about her heritage and upbringing. I would happily go to a powwow again, as long as my mom wasn’t going to be there. ;) I have been to powwow here in Connecticut once, but it was huge and more commercial, like a fair, probably because it was hosted by one of the tribes here that has a huge casino. The powwow seemed as much about drawing people in to spend money as celebrating heritage and giving folks a chance to celebrate their culture and educate others. I had a good time, but it wasn’t the same.