2004 Northern Arapaho Tribal Dances and Spiritual Healing Run

 by Alexa Roberts

Once again the community provided a warm welcome for the more than 60 Northern Arapaho Tribal members who came for the 2004 Spiritual Healing Run from the Sand Creek Massacre Site to a location near Bennett, Colorado.

On Thursday evening, about 50 community members contributed an array of delectable dishes to the potluck supper at the Community Building. More than enough barbeque beef and buns were almost entirely donated by Safeway and deliciously prepared by Betty Cahill and her family. Assistance with the set up and clean up was ably provided by National Park Service staff and volunteers Jeff Campbell, Craig Moore, Theresa Horak, and Melissa Bechhoefer, and Farm Service Agency staff Rod Johnson and Walt Immer.

After supper Commissioner Rod Brown welcomed the crowed and thanked the Fair Board for the air conditioning that made the Community Building a cool, comfortable place to gather. Then the audience was treated to an evening of spectacular dances, singing and drumming performed by talented young Arapaho dancers and a drum group from the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming. A particular treat was the interpretation of each dance and the dance regalia provided by the organizer of the run, Sandra Iron Cloud.  Several of the young dancers spoke to the audience about the significance of participating in the dancing and singing as a way to keep the Arapaho youth focused on Arapaho traditions and cultural values and away from drugs and alcohol. They also explained that the Spiritual Healing Run from the Sand Creek Massacre Site was an important part of the same effort. Finally, to conclude the evening’s festivities, the dancers held a Friendship Dance and invited all the members of the audience to join in.

The next morning, the dancers arrived at the High School Multi-Purpose room for a hearty and healthful breakfast prepared by Betty Cahill and family and then caravanned to the Sand Creek Massacre Site to begin the run. The run was initiated with prayers and blessing of the dancers, and reminders from the spiritual leaders that the purpose of the run is not to race, but to pray and reflect. Then in the crisp air of an unusually cool August morning, the runners took off down the road for the first ten mile stretch of the relay run, escorted by Deputy Sheriff Danny Christie and Kiowa County Fire Department members Bill Yohey and CJ Filbeck.

The organizers of the group thanked the local community for their warm welcome for a second year, for the delicious food that sustained the runners and for the effort at the local level that went into hosting the group again this year. To their thanks, the National Park Service would also like to especially thank all the people mentioned above, as well as Jack Howard with the Kiowa County Road and Bridge shop who mowed parking areas at the Sand Creek site, Bent’s Old Fort Natural Resources Manager Karl Zimmermann and his crew and Ashley Brown who helped with serving breakfast and clean up at the high school and at the Sand Creek site on Friday morning.

We look forward to welcoming the Cheyenne runners this November and the Arapaho runners again next year!