Cherokee Nation Ready For Its 60th National Holiday

The annual Labor Day weekend tradition of the Cherokee Nation, now on its 60th year, continues to get bigger, better and more fun for families and visitors.

“We have added more traditional games, more cultural events and opened it up more to our Cherokee people,” said Lou Slagle, director of the Cherokee National Holiday. “Every year, we try to do something that is more related to the tribe.”

The 60th Cherokee National Holiday, which attracts 90,000 to 100,000 visitors to Tahlequah, Oklahoma for three days, August 31 to September 2, is not only a homecoming for the Cherokees, it also has a huge tourism impact to the local community.

“It is the single biggest held event in Tahlequah each year. We traditionally sell out all the hotel rooms far ahead of time,” said Kate Kelly, tourism director at Tahlequah Area Chamber of Commerce.

“When the Cherokee Nation draws thousands of people for a few days to a city with a population of 16,000, tourism opportunities open up,” said Kelly. Already, she said, the city has benefited from the Cherokee Nation ramping up its cultural tourism efforts downtown.

Next year, Slagle said there are plans for the Holiday to introduce concerts, possibly with big stars, take over a rodeo event in the area and add another day to the two-day pow wow.

A Cherokee Nation press statement said the 40-event lineup this weekend features an expanded pow wow, a parade emceed in Cherokee, choir singing, traditional games competitions and welcoming remarks from Principal Chief Bill John Baker.

This is the first State of the Nation address of Principal Chief Baker, who set this year’s Holiday Theme: “From One Fire to a Proud Future.” He will speak Saturday, September 1, at 11:30 a.m. at the Cherokee Cultural Grounds.

Every year, the annual holiday has a theme. This year, six decades of celebrating the signing of the 1839 Cherokee National Constitution, the theme emphasizes the kinship and unity of all Cherokees.

Slagle, who has been a director for the past 12 years, recalled that when he first started the national holiday had about 23 events, and now there are 40. Five years ago, he said, the Indian Food Cook-Off was added on the list.

“The pow wow increased as far as visitors every year. There is probably a 15% increase in visitors from 12 years ago,” said Slagle, attributing the increase to word of mouth. He estimated 35,000 to 40,000 visitors to the two-day pow wow annually. ”We have a lot of people that come from all over‹the Cherokee California and Texas‹ come to the holiday. About 9% of the people that come are probably Cherokees,” he said, adding that the rest are locals that reside 100 miles away.

“Families are more involved in the Cherokee Nation,” said Slagle, noting that a significant change took place when they allowed kids to participate in some of the activities for free five years ago. “The children used to charged but now they are free. The sponsors help pay for it,” he said. This year, there is no charge to join the softball tournament. Even the pow wows are now free. There used to be a $1 per person entry for pow wow,”  Slagle said.

“We are following a new format,” said Warren Hawk, coordinator of the Cherokee National Holiday pow wow, noting that the prize money is still the same as last year, at $35,000, but instead of having 4 women’s and 4 men’s dance categories, there will be five categories for each group. “Sometimes, the chicken dance gets combined with the grass. This [new format] gives them their own categories to compete in,” he said.

The competition for men are: Southern Straight, Northern Traditional, Fancy, Grass and Chicken. For women, categories are cloth, Southern Buckskin, Northern Traditional, Fancy and Jingle. Special to the Holiday this year are Men’s Fancy Dance, $500 winner take-all, women’s Cherokee Tear Dress, $300 winner take-all and Hand Drum Contest. The pow wow is held at the Cherokee Cultural Grounds.

Apart from the contest, Hawk said, is a series of individual dance special that is sponsored by families. If one family, for instance, wants to sponsor Men Straight Dance Special, the family can do so. Sizzortail from Shawnee, Oklahoma is the Southern Drum host and Young Buffalo Horse, from White Bear Lake, Minnesota is the Northern Drum host.

In sports, several traditional Cherokee games are showcased, including two games of stickballs, a cornstalk shoot, horseshoes, blowguns and marbles. On the last day of the holiday, Sunday, communities will match their representatives against each other to see what town produces the best sportsmen and women in marbles, horseshoes, cornstalk shoot and blowguns.

At the Cherokee Trails Golf Course, organizers have scheduled a two-player senior, age 50 or older, scramble on Thursday, Aug. 30 and two-team player teams of all ages on Friday, Aug. 31. Additionally, tournament officials scheduled three separate, four-player scrambles for the weekend.

A press statement said Stage Stores is the annual sponsor of the event. This year the company has given $10,000 to support the tournament.

At W.W. Keeler Complex, a variety of activities were planned for kids. They can fish, jump, hunt for treasures, enjoy carnival games, such as, ring toss, basketball shoot, bean bag toss, duck pond and ping pong ball toss. Elders, ages 50 and up, are invited to stop by the Elders Fun Day.

Other features at the Holiday are the coveted Cherokee National Treasure award to be presented to selected artists, performance by the Cherokee National Youth Choir who will sing their new patriotic CD, Miss Cherokee Competition and fireworks on Sunday night, which was moved to Tahlequah Cherokee Casino, a new venue.