Traveling powwow team arrives first and leaves last
BERL TISKUS | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 weeks, 5 days AGO
Reporter Berl Tiskus joined the Lake County Leader team in early March 2023, and covers Ronan City Council, schools, ag and business. Berl grew up on a ranch in Wyoming and earned a degree in English education from MSU-Billings and a degree in elementary education from the University of Montana. Since moving to Polson three decades ago, she’s worked as a substitute teacher, a reporter for the Valley Journal and a secretary for Lake County Extension. | July 9, 2026 12:00 AM
Do you know who the first people to arrive at the Arlee Powwow grounds each morning are, besides the campers who slept there, and who the last to leave are?
It would be Raquel and Hunter, two young adults who are employees of C & T Tabulating.
According to their website, C & T Tabulating “is an Indigenous-owned and operated business specializing in points tracking, registration and results tabulation for competitive powwows across North America.”
Natives of Saskatchewan, the pair usually drives to powwows because they have lots of gear — tablets, scanners, printers, computers and other electronics.
For example, judges at the Arlee Powwow mark their ballots by hand on a score sheet. Those sheets go to Raquel and Hunter, who enter the information into computers. They also manage the registration of dancers, singers and drummers. It saves powwow committees lots of time and work.
Raquel said they travel to powwows of all sizes — big, small, and all around the country. The company has been in business for decades and is establishing itself in powwows.
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