More than 50 Native American tribes gathered last weekend for the Indian America New Year's Competition Powwow at Rillito Park Race Track, 4502 N. First Ave.
Dancers of all ages competed for prizes at the 17th annual event.
"I've been dancing jingle since I was two years old," said Larissa Vazquez, who is a member of the Yaqui tribe and a student at Buena High School in Sierra Vista. "I couldn't imagine not competing."
The hundreds of people who attended also saw singing and drum competitions. The dancing, singing and drumming that takes place during a powwow has been passed down for generations.
"My dance is an eastern war dance that we used to do in a ceremony before we would go to war," said Santiago Stanton, an Eastern Woodland Indian from the Narragansett Indian Nation in Charlestown, R.I.
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Vendors sold authentic Indian crafts and plenty of traditional Indian food for the audience to fill up on while watching the competitions.
On StarNet: View a slide show of the powwow online at www.azstarnet.com/slideshows
