The smell of frybread, the sound of elders laughing, and the unmistakable sight of regalia taking the gymnasium floor on Saturday marked the kickoff of Native American Heritage Month at Aztec.

With the exception of a gourd dance put on by the Kinteel residential campus, Aztec schools has never put on a powwow, Kimberly Zah, Aztec Indian education coordinator, said.

The idea of a powwow had always been in the back of her mind, she said. When Warman Hall, Aztec director of federal programs, came into his position Zah finally had the necessary funding to do so.

Navajo Transitional Energy Co. provides an annual grant titled the community benefit fund. The grant is regionally well known with other states applying for funding. Through that grant, the district applied under cultural sustainability, Hall said.

“The tourism is huge for the all the ancient Native American stuff over at the national monument but we wanted to really look at highlighting this current aspect of Native American culture,” he said.

About 21% of students enrolled in the Aztec district are Native American, Zah said. Made up of Native students, the League of Nations club at Aztec High was supportive throughout the process of planning the powwow.

League of Nations and Kinteel residents sold concessions and provided the head staff food during the event.

Kinteel residents have the option of returning home during the weekend but for those who stay in Aztec, the residential hall is like a second home, Zah said.

Since being in her position, Zah said she’s implementing more cultural activities for the students who stay over the weekend.

Cooking traditional foods and Tsiiyéeł day are examples of the activities that students get to take part in, Melissa Yellow, member of the Indian Education Board said.

For the powwow, the residents butchered a sheep and had fresh 'ach'íí' to eat and used the mutton to feed the head staff, she said.

“It’s nice to have that young energy,” Hall said.

The funds raised from concession will be going back towards the club, Yellow said.

Before developing the powwow, Zah attended the powwow at Fort Lewis College in Durango to get some insight. With very little idea on how to plan a powwow, Zah said it took making connections to start the process.

Erny Zah, master of ceremonies for the powwow, had the most insight into setting the groundwork. It was through him, the drum groups and the head staff came together.

“Without the help of him I don’t think this would have really taken off,” she said.

The biggest conversations were held by the powwow committee consisting of Kimberly Zah, Warman Hall, Erny Zah, Navajo language teachers, parents from the parent advisory committee and Kinteel residents. They started by identifying what they wanted the powwow to be named.

“We wanted to use wording that really represented this place, Aztec, using Navajo language,” Hall said.

Everyone involved knew the powwow would be a celebration, he said.

Prior to the powwow, head dancers and the emcee visited the surrounding schools in Aztec to showcase the dancers.

The event started with Grand Entry at 5:30 p.m and featured drum groups, Shiprock Agency and Southern Drum singing an honor, veteran and flag song.

An honor song was sung to give respect to those lost during the COVID pandemic and the Aztec shooting in 2017.

There was pre-registration open to dancers however emcee Zah said in Indian ways, folks often decided upon which powwow to attend the day of. Dancers that pre-registered received money and those that did not received gifts from the committee.

Hall said he grew up around the area and is very grateful to NTEC for the opportunity to bring a dream to reality.

Despite having no clue where to begin and the stressful rearranging leading up to the event, Zah said there’s nothing like this to come around the area and the process has been a learning process.

“I think the end reward is seeing people come and learn about different culture and diversity and the dances behind it,” Zah said.

Zah said she’s grateful for all those involved and the community members that showed up.

As for next year, the inclusion of a powwow will be solely dependent on funding, she said.