Tribes Across Oklahoma Gather at American Indian Exposition

The American Indian Exposition began October 30 through November 2 in Anadarko, Oklahoma.

The event featured a parade, a powwow, a bow shoot, a trunk-or-treat, and an arts and crafts show with special guests Lil Mike and Funnybone from Reservation Dogs.

American Indian Exposition President Echohawk Neconie said there are 14 tribes committed to the event.

“In each tribe, we try to involve for cultural presentation each day,” he said. “So, we have four days we try to find times, and they're like, today we did the princess reception, and then they had a gourd dance for part of their afternoon, so it's been busy.”

Neconie said everybody was invited to the expo.

“This is our time to open it up to the public to come see what we do as native people because, again, we have so many tribes in the state,” he said. “You have 39 tribes, but there's only 14 that are a part of this organization. So, we open this up to everybody to come take a look at. Like, we had a parade the other day, so that was for everybody. All these different events that we do that's for everyone. We want them to see the beauty of our culture and then also see what it is we do.”

Neconie said it takes about a year to plan the event.

“So, it takes a lot, so the eight months that we've been planning, it's a lot of work,” he said. “For a while there, I think we had meetings every two weeks, and then this last month, it's been every Wednesday, every Wednesday, come in and go over everything, start finalizing, make sure everything's planned out, everything's set and ready to go, reconfirming who's going to be doing what who's going to make it.”

Neconie said he enjoys everything about the expo.

“It's everything because it goes it's hard work, you know, and you want to show that support to everybody that's doing something that you're not just making them do the work and have to handle it,” he said. “You come to support them in what they're doing. So, all of it to me is good. The end of the night is even better because then I'm done for the night and go to bed.”

There was also a featured artist and several other people were recognized.

“Our artist of the year, Mr. Gene “IronMan” Smith, who is right back here, and that takes planning, too,” Neconie said. “We go throughout the year trying to find different ones, and he's the one that we all came up with and decided we have the elder of the year, and that's Donna Jean Tsatoke. Then we have the celebrity of the year, and that's Christian Wassana.”