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The Shoshone-Bannock Indian Festival is Back for Another Year
PHOTO COURTESY OF SHO-BAN NEWS
BY ARIANNA CRETEAU
Dustina Abrahamson, a Shoshone-Bannock tribe member, grew up attending powwow circles. She was once Miss Shoshone-Bannock, and her ties to the festival connect her to its beginnings in 1964. en-Recreation Director Reeves Nawoosky (Comanche), started the Annual Shoshone-Bannock Indian Festival and collaborated with Willie George, also known as Chief Running Bear, to garner interest. Willie George is Abrahamson’s great grandfather. Since then, enough interest has drawn in massive crowds and this summer, a packed four days will bring around 800 dancers and thousands of spectators. “While it’s a big family event and plenty of fun,” said Abrahamson, who is now the Powwow Coordinator for the upcoming 58th Annual Shoshone-Bannock Indian Festival, “Ultimately, it’s all about culture.”
Much like a summer fair, the festival is a busy weekend of nonstop events hosted in Fort Hall, Idaho, August 10-13. There’s entertainment and activities for all ages, including kids’ day games, hand games, parades, a powwow, a veteran honoring, a feast, a rodeo, Indian relay races, an art show, and more. Indigenous people, international visitors, and locals come together to honor indigenous history, culture, and people.
“We’re very proud to do this, especially in Southern Idaho,” Abrahamson said.
Each year, the Shoshone-Bannock Indian Festival emphasizes a new theme. After a two-year Covid hiatus, last year’s theme was “coming back stronger.” is year it is “honoring the strength and resilience of our ancestors.”
Traditional indigenous ceremonies were banned in North America not so long ago, and until the 1920s, they were slowly allowed once again by federal governments. “We’re still carrying on these traditions and activities that people have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years. Having this festival is a way for us to showcase our rich culture,” Abrahamson said.
Indigenous people from across North America travel to participate in the festival, which began as a powwow, eventually evolving into the festival it is today. Of course, there’s still a powwow, which is the largest in Idaho. At powwows, many styles of dance are inter-tribal, allowing people to participate and compete in common and more standardized dances to popular songs. The host drums are comprised of singers and musicians from singular tribes or collaborating tribes performing at the powwow, and this year includes powwow drum groups TBZ-The Boyz from St. Paul, Minnesota and Fort Hall locals Bad Agency.
While the festival is mostly free, expect to pay admission for the Indian relay races, which are a part of Shoshone-Bannock culture and originated over 100 years ago on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. e relay teams, which consist of three horses and four team members, require riders to ride a lap with each horse bareback, dismounting without help and, harder still, without losing control of their horses. The races, which draw a crowd every year, happen each day at noon and celebrate generations of racers.
In addition to an abundance of space for a dance arbor, gambling arbor, vendors, and more, festival grounds offer plenty of parking and onsite camping for out-of-towners, and organizers encourage people from all backgrounds to join and experience the festival, which Abrahamson says reminds folks that indigenous traditions, language, and culture are still being practiced and kept alive.
