Eastern Shoshone Indian Days Powwow

The arbor at Fort Washakie is new. It is the dance circle on the Fort Washakie Powwow Grounds, on A Gaw Bombe Lane, where the grand entries and special dances of Eastern Shoshone Indian Days are held. Blankets laid across the bleachers mark seats kept for dancers and their families. The Wind River visitors council advises bringing a folding chair, leaving the blankets alone, and keeping the way into the arena clear. Admission is free. On the Sunday evening of the 2026 powwow, the drums were still going as the sun went down behind the Wind River Mountains.

The 66th annual powwow ran June 19 through 21, 2026. County 10 counted more than 2,000 people and called it the largest annual gathering on the Wind River Reservation, which is home to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes. The Eastern Shoshone Entertainment Committee runs it, and the committee and the visitors council both call it Wyoming’s largest powwow. The visitors council gives the title of the state’s oldest to the Arapaho Powwow, held in September.

The drum and the grand entry

Every session begins with a grand entry. In 2026 there were four: Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 1 and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. The committee’s etiquette sheet describes the order. An elder says a prayer. Visitors stand as soon as the drum begins and take off their hats. Indigenous veterans and head dancers carry in the Eagle Staff and the flags, and the dancers follow by age group and category. The sheet asks for silence until every dancer is inside the arena, and it asks anyone not yet seated not to cut across the line. On Saturday night Darrell LoneBear Sr. led the color guard into the arbor, and the dancers formed an arc around the color guard and the powwow royalty. KayCee McCabe, a Fort Washakie junior, danced his way in.

The visitors council describes the regalia as handmade, with feathers, shells, bones, beadwork and sometimes family heirlooms. Visitors should not touch it without asking. If a piece falls, visitors should leave it on the ground. The council says the correct word is regalia and that “costume” is not appropriate. The committee asks visitors to request permission before photographing dancers and before recording drum groups. Drugs and alcohol are barred from the grounds, and the sheet warns of removal or arrest.

Seven drum groups sang across the 2026 weekend, among them Ottertrail, Little Brave and Little Sun. Dancers came from as far as Florida, Alaska, Canada and Southern California and competed in divisions from tiny tots to golden age. Alex Santos and Corey Reeder were masters of ceremonies, Sam Her Many Horses and Stefan Kaulaity were arena directors, and Herman Vasquez and Mandy Harding were head judges. War Path Sounds ran the sound. On Friday night Kaulaity checked on a young dancer who had stopped to catch his breath during a teen dance, and Chico Her Many Horses got the golden age dance started. After the Friday grand entry, high school and college graduates were called forward. Darion Hereford and Noah St. Clair held up certificates for finishing at Lander Valley High School. Brian St. Clair collected an envelope for a 4.0 grade point average in his last college semester.

Buffalo rations, hand games and a Sunday feast

The 2026 celebration opened on Thursday, June 18, with the royalty pageant at 5 p.m. and a youth powwow grand entry at 7. The committee’s flyer listed Indian games at 9 a.m. Saturday, buffalo rations to the community on Saturday morning, a parade at 10 a.m. Sunday and a community feast at noon Sunday. Around the dancing were hand games, horse relays, a softball tournament and a three-on-three basketball tournament. The Shoshone Business Council called the horse relays Indian Relay Races.

Local food trucks and traveling vendors fed the crowd. The visitors council lists fry bread, Indian stew and Indian tacos as the usual fare at reservation powwows. Vendors from across North America set up along the grounds to sell jewelry, clothing, accessories and supplies for regalia. Several people told County 10 that cell service from the nearby Verizon towers gave out under the crowd.

Specials ran through the weekend. A tiny tot dance on Friday night honored Queen Dionne Ferris and was supported by Warm Valley Healthcare. Ferris’s own special, an Old Style Jingle Red Dress Special, was introduced Saturday night by George Abeyta. Princess Zids Arrow White held a women’s traditional special and Jr. Princess Aveila Valdez a junior girls fancy special. Wind River Tribal Health held a Women’s Blue Dress and Men’s Turquoise Shirt Special to honor prostate and cervical cancer victims. The committee sponsored a Living Legends Special for dancers 70 and older.

Red regalia at sundown

On Sunday a Blanket Dance was held for the families of Taylee Dresser and Gregory Trosper Jr. Both had been killed in Riverton on June 17 when, it is alleged, a drunk driver crashed into their vehicle. Children walked from across the grounds to the center of the arbor and set their donations on the blanket. Many were already wearing red regalia for the evening’s special. “She honored our people this way as she carried herself with respect, dignity, kindness, compassion and humility,” Abeyta said of Dresser. “She, one of our standout scholars, going through the school system here at Fort Washakie.”

The red was for MMIR 307’s Red Dress and Red Shirt Special. MMIR stands for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives. Nicole Wagon of Fremont County started the group after she lost two daughters, in 2019 and 2020. The 2026 special was the second the group had organized at Indian Days. “MMIR 307 embraces both tribes in Wind River, so it just made sense,” Wagon told WyoFile. People lined up at the group’s booth for T-shirts. They wrote the names of missing and murdered relatives and hung them on a cloth that was lit from behind by the sun.

The song for the procession came from Ottertrail, the 2026 Southern Host, which the committee billed as “Oscar-nominated.” WyoFile reports that the drum group formed in 1992 in the northeastern United States. Santos leads it, and its original members include Will Mosley, Matt Harmon, Urie Ridgeway, Benjamin Roldan, Mark Hicks and Harry J. Gould. Santos wrote “MMIW Honor Song,” which closes Erica Tremblay’s 2023 film “Fancy Dance.” He had given Wagon and MMIR 307 permission to use it, and the two had adopted each other as brother and sister. “My sister was one year younger than me and she was murdered — she came up missing and was murdered,” Santos said. “So I have a dog in this fight.” He told WyoFile that the places in the song where voices and drums fade are deliberate: “That’s the relative that disappeared and went to heaven.”

Dancers and spectators made a lap of the arbor while Ottertrail sang. Men’s and women’s groups then each danced twice for a champion, and Wagon and her family gave out the prizes. At sunset the flags were retired, and dancers and spectators shook hands with the color guard.

Thirty-four songs without a break

The last event of the 2026 powwow was the men’s fancy Iron Man. County 10 names it the Mean Girls Lemonade Iron Man Special in its text and the Sam Her Many Horses Fancy Feather Iron Man Endurance Dance in a caption. Her Many Horses was its listed host. Little Brave, a local drum, joined Ottertrail on the arbor stage, and the two groups traded songs with no pause between them, 34 songs in all.

“Give it your all until you can’t anymore,” Reeder told the dancers. “If you’re not dancing hard enough, the judges will remove you.”

About 20 dancers entered. By the 20th song five were left, some having stepped out and some having been removed by the judges. Dasan Scholfield and Preston Olney danced on together through 32 songs and more than 90 minutes without rest. Neither man gave out, so the judges put the decision to the crowd. The cheer went to Scholfield, and the prize was $1,000.

Crowns since 1986

The 2026 royalty changed hands on Saturday night. Queen Dionne Ferris passed her crown to Kiauna Love Shongutsie, who was hugged at her crowning. Zids Arrow White passed the princess title to Chloe McAdams, and Aveila Valdez passed the junior princess title to Amani Whelan.

The tribe’s newsletter, Newe’ News, has an archival recollection of how these titles began. Indian Days introduced the Princess and Jr. Princess titles in June 1986. Lameila Shoyo was named queen, Misty Shoyo princess and Chardell Shoyo junior princess. After one year the new titles reverted to 1st and 2nd Attendant, and they stayed that way until 2007. The same recollection records an announcement from June 2007 of a Wind River Music Festival to be held alongside Indian Days. Its director, Mike Chingman, planned about 20 rap and heavy metal acts. The recollection does not say whether they played.

The tribe released the dates of the 64th powwow in 2024. In 2026, the committee called the newly selected royalty to appear on Friday, July 3, at 11 a.m., for the acknowledgment of the Fort Bridger Treaties of 1863 and 1868.