The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (Choctaw Nation) held its
annual Labor Day Festival on the capital grounds of the Council House built in
1884 at Tuskahoma (Tvshka Homma), August 31 to September 4, 2017. I was happy
to be there along with approximately 250,000 other folks to enjoy music,
culture, food, fun, and family.
If you like country and gospel
music, you were in for a real treat with great performers filling the air with
music every day. I particularly enjoyed listening to the legendary Alabama on Saturday night, sitting with
my cousins near the Choctaw Amphitheater while an almost-full moon glowed overhead
and a slight breeze cooled my face.
Naturally, I toured the arts
& crafts building, lingering over goat-milk soap, Choctaw oil paintings of
traditional scenes, hand-made furniture, Western books, turquoise and beaded
jewelry, hand-thrown pottery, and so much else. I resisted taking home the
entire lot of gorgeous items, but it wasn’t easy.
County fair-type food was there
in abundance. I enjoyed traditional Indian Tacos made with fry bread topped by
meat, onion, lettuce, tomato, and hot sauce. Of course, I also had to have
grilled corn-on-the-cob. If I went even more decadent like the fried cheese
cake, I’ll never admit it. Let’s just say everything I tried was delicious . .
. and I waited an appropriate time before venturing to the wide variety of
exhilarating carnival rides.
With so much going on for so many
days, I can’t possibly pick my favorite, so I’ll just list a few of the fun events:
5K race, gourd dancing, horseshoe tournament, volley ball, basketball,
fast-pitch, terrapin race, buffalo tours, art show, storytelling, rabbit stick throw,
mobile library, domino/checker tournament, quilt show, bow shoot, golf tournament,
Choctaw dancers, and stickball tournament. Okay, I really like to watch
stickball (similar to lacrosse) partly because it’s an ancient game of the
Americas that at one time was used to decide the outcome of disputes between
nations.
As always happens, the festival
eventually came to an end with lots of happy folks heading out to their lives
across the country while knowing they’d be back in another year to celebrate together
again.
Kim Redford is an acclaimed,
bestselling author of Western romance novels. She grew up in Texas with
cowboys, cowgirls, horses, cattle, and rodeos for inspiration. She divides her
time between homes in Texas and Oklahoma, where she’s a rescue cat wrangler and
horseback rider—when she takes a break from her keyboard. Visit her at Kim Redford.
