New CFD Indian Village supports importance of Indigenous people in Western culture

CHEYENNE — Though Native American performers have been a part of Cheyenne Frontier Days since its second year, it wasn’t until the 1960s that its current location was established. It took even longer to build the vendor booths and dance venue that currently reside in the Indian Village.

On Friday, during an unveiling ceremony, CFD announced the initiation of new facilities to be called Morning Star American Indian Village.

The new facilities will be three times the size of the current village, with improved facilities for dancers and performers, a state-of-the-art sound system, and intimate stages for performers, storytellers and craftsmen.

“Over the years, our committee has worked hard to improve the village and expand the visibility of the American Indian,” Indians Committee chairwoman Mariah Johnson told the crowd Friday.

“The committee was encouraged by Billy Evans Hunting Horse, the leader of the Southern Plains intertribal dance group, to consider adding vendors to the village. And in the early 1990s, what you see today came to existence.”

Alpha Marie Hunting Horse Goombi told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that she was proud to have seen Indian Village grow in part due to her father, Billy Evans. She said she welcomes the change and is excited about the new facilities.

“When this was just a patch of grass and a lot of rocks, Dad had that vision to just dream big, and he did,” Hunting Horse Goombi told the WTE. “It doesn’t hurt to dream big. We may not accomplish it, but I think it’s going to be great. I like anything new.”

The impact that Billy Evans had on previous committees and the current village is well known because of the way former committee chairs speak about him, Johnson told the WTE.

“He was not afraid to bring his ideas for what this village could be to the committee chairmen, and they very much respected what his ideas were and tried to implement the things that he saw,” Johnson said.

When Evans shared his dreams with the Indians Committee back in the 1990s for the future of Indian Village, Del Peterson, former Indians Committee chairman, sought out to help him accomplish it. They didn’t have enough money for the entire renovation, Peterson told the WTE, but they could afford the lumber.

“Those 15 guys (on the committee) started in May, and we built a cook shack and three more buildings,” Peterson said.

Once they had booths, they began to bring in vendors. One of the first vendors that Evans asked to sell in the Indian Village was Alpha’s father-in-law, Ron Goombi, and a Goombi booth has been present at CFD ever since.

“He began selling Native American turquoise and silver jewelry,” Hunting Horse Goombi said. “... Mainly Native American turquoise and silver jewelry, which comes from the tribes of the Southwest, mainly Navajo, Zuni and Hopi.”

Hunting Horse Goombi remembers the first fry bread stands, saying Diné fry bread is the best. She grew up dancing the Fancy Dance at CFD, which is typically reserved for men, and she has nothing but good to say about CFD.

The Indian Village at CFD has evolved from scattered events throughout the town and a grass lot to an established site with vendors and performers. With this new facility, the committee hopes that it will evolve into a location that really respects what the Indigenous vendors, performers and storytellers bring to CFD, Johnson told the WTE.

The new facilities will be open year-round and will expand the capacity of the current Indian Village, according to a press release. They are expected to open in 2026.

Though the new facilities are highly anticipated, the current venue is well-loved. It carries the memories of several generations and sees high levels of foot traffic and intense volunteer dedication to not only build it, but maintain it, Peterson said.

“I lament (the loss of the village) as I have real ownership in the village as it is now because we built it,” Peterson said. “But you know, times change, we’ve got to change with it. It’s time that we do something else.”

The new village is going to be a positive change, several people told the WTE. It will be one of the biggest projects that CFD has taken on in recent years, and it is meant to respect the many different tribes that vendors and performers represent.

“The Kiowas roamed through Wyoming, and there are many landmarks here that we call home,” Hunting Horse Goombi, who is Kiowa, told the WTE. “It’s like coming home again. When I step in Wyoming, it’s Kiowa land wherever I step.”

The new village will include the flags of the nomadic tribes that have historically called Cheyenne home, according to a press release.

Many families, like Hunting Horse Goombi’s, have grown with the Indian Village and have tribal ties to Cheyenne and the surrounding area. At the project unveiling on Friday, the coordinator of the Little Sun Drum and Dance Group, Sandra Iron Cloud of the Northern Arapaho, told the crowd that their dance group has grown up with CFD.

Iron Cloud told those assembled for the announcement that their group was there to honor the role that Indigenous people play in CFD and in Western culture.

“We’re also here to dispel any stereotypes of who we are as Native people,” Iron Cloud said on Friday. “We’re everyday people coming here. We’re teachers, we’re professionals, we’re doctors. We work for our tribal programs, with our child support programs, with our education programs.”

Architectural drawings were released at the end of the event after Pat Iron Cloud of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, Sandra’s husband, conducted a cedar blessing.

The new facilities were made possible by a donation from the Hughes Charitable Foundation. There will be many volunteer opportunities available for the community to help with the project, according to the CFD press release.