Community News · Chandler Pow Wow 2026
Chandler Puts the C in Community: A Sea of Smiling Faces in the Heart of Winchester Park
Vendors, students, families and a whole lot of volunteers filled Winchester Park for the Chandler Chamber of Commerce’s biggest day of the year.
CHANDLER, Texas — Chandler puts the C in community — and Saturday morning looked like a sea of folks from all over East Texas, from sunrise volunteers to the Road Trippin’ parade.
It was Pow Wow day in Chandler, the Chandler Chamber of Commerce’s fall festival, held on the second Saturday of October since 1988. This was the 38th year, according to the Chamber. The Chamber calls it Chandler’s largest event, with more than 100 booths and more than 5,000 visitors in a typical year.
A park full of neighbors
Delicia has lived in Chandler for 33 years and has been bringing a booth to the Pow Wow for six or seven of them. She and her family used to travel to other shows, she said, until they “realized this was just down the road, and it looked like fun.”
She gave the Chamber high marks this year. “Very organized this year. We’re excited about that,” she said. “We found out early where our booth was going to be, and we love having a corner or end booth so we can see a lot of people.”
Delicia also put in a good word for her church, Rock Hill Baptist Church, which had its own booth at the festival.
Michael of Brave Hawk Sports has been coming out for four years. “This is a great community event. It brings everybody together, and we just have a good time out here,” he said. He has watched it grow, too: “Every year there’s just more and more vendors, and it’s getting bigger every year.”
As for pulling off a day like this, Michael called it “crazy, but it’s a fun crazy.” He tipped his hat to the Chamber. “I can only imagine the work that goes behind the scenes setting something like this up,” he said, “and so I’ve got all kinds of respect for those guys.”
For Christy of Athens, this was a first. Christy runs Chico Design and Hat Bar, a small business from her home, where customers pick out a hat and the patches they want and she customizes it for them. “I have heard about this event for many years and shopped a couple times here, but [this is] my first time as a booth,” she said. Setup went smoothly: “It was very nice. Came yesterday, got my stuff put out, my products today.”
Worth the wait
Some booths need no sales pitch. Nathan, 21, of Chandler, was standing in line at Kong’s Egg Rolls and has been coming to the Pow Wow for 12 or 13 years.
“These are probably the best egg rolls you’ll ever have. They are amazing,” Nathan said. “I would wait in a mile-long line for them.”
Four houses, one family
The parade brought out students from across Brownsboro ISD. Zoe was with the House of Nukumori from Brownsboro Intermediate School and Chandler Intermediate School. The two campuses use a “house” system to help the schools work as one, with four houses: Nukumori, Isibindi, Onraka and Altruismo. Nukumori is the house of kindness, and its mascot is the dragon.
“It’s just an opportunity to teach kids kindness and other good moral values, and to get the community involved with this as well,” Zoe said.
This was the house’s first year in the Pow Wow parade, and the float was a team effort. “This was parents, this was teachers and a lot of just community members,” she said. Her summary of the whole idea: “We’re four houses, and we’re one family.”
Sabrina of Chandler was there as a band parent and a member of the booster club for the Brownsboro Military Band. The boosters raise money by running the concession stand at football games and help feed the students on game nights and at competitions. “Anything that they need, we try to get that support for them,” she said.
The band marches military style, she explained. “It’s very interesting and very fun to watch.” Her favorite part of the day? “Just seeing all the people involved, and then getting to see all the students in the parade. The parade is so fun to watch, and I love to watch the kids get involved.”
A first parade, and old memories
Keeston and his family have lived in Chandler for about 10 years, and this was only their second Pow Wow. This one was special: his son was marching in a parade for the first time, with his class.
“I like seeing all the people out here,” Keeston said. “Chandler being so small, that this many people come out here to support this event, I think that’s really nice. I feel like that’s good camaraderie for the city itself.”
Wesley has lived in Chandler for more than 20 years and has been coming to the Pow Wow since he was a kid. For him, the point of the day is the same as it always was. “It’s the community coming together,” he said. “You see most of the town out here, and then you got people come from Tyler, Longview, Kilgore, all around.”
He has watched it grow, too. “Each year it’s progressively gotten bigger and bigger,” Wesley said.
His favorite part these days? “The kids’ enjoyment during the parade,” Wesley said. That included the Cub Scouts, who were marching this year — including Wesley’s kids.
Road trippin’ down FM 315
Just before 10 a.m., the parade came down the road toward Winchester Park. Cub Scouts led the way, carrying the American flag, their pack flag and the Chandler Pow Wow banner, with the band close behind.
This year’s theme was a road trip, and the floats ran with it. Rick Ford, Executive Director of the Chandler Chamber of Commerce, and Kayla Goodson, Assistant Executive Director, were on the grounds Saturday. Rick said the Chamber picked one theme to carry through all of its events this year.
“We have several events over the year, along with bringing the community together,” Rick said. “We came up with a theme over the course of the year that was just kind of road tripping through the USA, or traveling, just so that we could tie our events together but also keep some creativity to it as well.”
“It takes a village”
All those yellow vests at sunrise did not happen by accident. “It takes a village, and we have a very good village here in Chandler,” Kayla said. “One of the things I would say helps the most is having people who are serving on our board that have these connections with different businesses and organizations, having them serve with us in order to reach out to these organizations to help get us the volunteers that we need.”
“Chandler is very good at volunteering,” Rick said.
The money raised at the Pow Wow goes back into the community through business grants and scholarships, Rick said. The Chamber was also selling circus tickets at the festival, with proceeds benefiting Meals on Wheels.
“This is the 38th year. You know, every year it gets bigger and bigger,” Rick said. “It’s just a great community event that draws people together, supports Chandler, and we advertise Chandler. We have people from all over East Texas.” One vendor came all the way from Oklahoma, the farthest he knew of.
Kayla’s message for anyone thinking about volunteering or plugging in: “I just believe you get out of your community what you put into it. And so the more people get plugged in, the more it will feed their spirit, and they’ll thrive here in Chandler.”
Thank you, Chandler
A day like this doesn’t happen without a lot of people giving their time: the Chandler Chamber of Commerce, the City of Chandler, Chandler Fire Department, Chandler Police Department, UT Health, the volunteers in yellow vests who were parking cars before sunrise, the teachers and parents who built floats, the booster clubs, the churches and the small businesses that packed Winchester Park. Thank you for giving Chandler one more great second Saturday in October.
