Extending the Ké
Turquoise skies, endless walks greet fairgoers

The 61st Annual Navajo Nation Parade gets underway on Saturday in Window Rock. The parade featured about 150 entries and thousands of spectators. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Cars and trucks prowled Arizona Highway 264 Saturday, intent on visiting the 61st annual Window Rock Fair. They inched ahead, looking for a space to park.

Bernice Austin-Begay and her two daughters had a long way to walk to reach the fairgrounds, but she said it was worth it.

That’s because Austin-Begay qualified for free senior admission this year at the fair.

“It was awful,” Christina Carr said of the long walk. “Oh, my gosh — it was really long!”

Hordes of youngsters crowded the midway, riding twirly whirls and tumbling cages, as the smells of fresh popcorn, cotton candy, jumbo hamburgers and smoked turkey legs wafted pleasantly through a sunny blue sky.

“It’s so beautiful that even the turquoise seems to be dancing,” Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said. Shirley and First Lady Vikki Shirley attended the fair, addressing the audience gathered to watch the song and dance competition.

He likes that Navajos meet with extended family members at the various fairs across the Nation.

“We all bump into each other at different fairs, we extend that Ké to each other,” Joe Shirley said. “We should meet each other with Ké, greet each other with Ké.”

Austin-Begay headed straight for the dancing, too. She was eager to see the Apache Crown Dancers.
“They are my favorite,” she said.

The crown dancers came out with various colored headgear and regalia, each representing different Apache spirits. The clown, dressed in white, would pause now and again to call the spirits to this world.

The theme for Saturday was “Honoring all Women,” according to Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan.

“Today, we honor all women especially the Native American and Navajo women present and past. We, the great Navajo Nation, come from a long line of strong Navajo women ancestors and grandmothers — nalí and masaaní.”

Native women are the backbone of tribal society, he added.

Congressional candidate Mary Kim Titla, a member of the San Carlos Apache tribe, also attended the fair. She was pleased with the way fairgoers welcomed her to Navajo.

Addressing the crowd between dancers, Titla said it was time to send a Native to Congress from Congressional District 1.

“We need to send someone to Congress to work for the people, we can no longer send someone else to represent us,” Titla said.

Titla also took part in the annual parade, as did another Congressional candidate — Howard Shanker, an attorney who helped tribes fight to protect the San Francisco Peaks .

It was Kathie Curley’s birthday — but she didn’t have time to even cut her cake yet.

Curley, founder of Rez Quilters, was working a table in the exhibition hall for home arts and science contestants.

“This is the fourth year we’ve done this, and it keeps getting bigger,” Curley said. The first year they had about 75 entries in the quilting category, and this year that had more than 300, she said.

Every year they raffle off a handmade quilt to raise funds, but this year was special, Curley said. They were raising money to split between the families of the eight Navajo soldiers who have died during the current war, she explained.

One lucky winner was Joe Begay Jr.

He wanted to enter a handmade woven sheep belt in the arts and crafts competition, but was told there was no category for it, Curley said. So he came to the quilters, and they accepted it.

Begay ended up winning the $255 first prize and a $1,600 Navajo rug.