Posted on 08/19/2025 11:28:00 AM PDT by Red Badger
Dancers prepare for the grand enterance at the Gathering of Nations in April 2017 in Albuquerque, N.M. Photo: Russell Contreras/Axios
The Gathering of Nations, a celebration of Indigenous dancing, music and art from around the world in what has become North America's largest powwow, will end next year, organizers announced.
Why it matters: The ending closes a chapter in Native American history that has been mentioned in movies and novels and brought hundreds of thousands to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for more than 40 years.
Driving the news: Organizers announced on Saturday that the cultural event will conclude in 2026, marking its final edition.
* They shared the news via email and social media but did not explain the decision.
* "After 43 incredible years of bringing together thousands of dancers, singers, artists, and visitors from around the world, this chapter will come to a close with one final celebration," organizers wrote on the event's Facebook page.
* Organizers didn't respond to Axios' request for comment.
Zoom in:
The annual event is one of the largest convenings of Indigenous people in the world, allowing artists and musicians to share their work.
* Competitions highlight work and many careers have been launched at the gathering.
Yes, but:
Organizers have faced criticism over the years for the high fee to set up booths and for rising ticket prices.
* The New Mexico fairgrounds, the event's current host, may face renovations soon under a state plan. Native American man in black and red feather headdress helps child in yellow feathered hat and traditional clothing in front of teal and red tipis on green grass.
Deshava Apachee, of Dulce, N.M., prepares for the Gathering of Nations in 2018 with his son, Noah, in Albuquerque, N.M. Photo: Russell Contreras/Axios
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Zoom out:
* The Gathering of Nations began in 1983 in a gym at what is now St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque, later relocating to Expo New Mexico shortly thereafter.
* The event later moved to the University of New Mexico and is now held at the New Mexico fairgrounds, where the final gathering is scheduled for April 24-25, 2026.
* Over time, the Gathering of Nations evolved into one of North America's most celebrated powwows, gaining recognition across popular culture—from books to films.
* In the 1998 movie Smoke Signals, for instance, a character remarked that the event was such a powerful symbol of pan-Indian unity that, had it existed in 1492, it might have deterred Columbus from ever landing. Context: It's not the only large powwow in the U.S.
Others include the Denver March in Colorado in March, Red Earth in Oklahoma City in March and Crow Fair in Montana in August.
We have a local Pow-wow here as well............
ending because? I dont want to be cynical but is it because the government funding dried up?
Pocahontas will be the final guest speaker.
White Liberal Women stopped it, said it was demeaning to Native Americans......
High ticket and booth fees is part of it...............
That is one tubby chief. Too much bison jerky in the evening.
I resemble that remark!........................
My advice to you is to lay off the blue corn porridge and fry bread.
The lady third from the right could be Judy Garland’s twin.
Too many chiefs, too few indians??
Check his left arm, does he think he is Jackie Onassis?
I was thinking just the opposite. All of Europe came together for a purpose that did not involve their own separate axes to grind.
That in it’s self is significant.
“High ticket and booth fees is part of it...............”
Could not fit enough slot machines in one booth to be profitable?
I do not know.. But a lot of times events like this become so over commercialized that the essence of why it is held gets lost.
If the point is for groups to see their own and other group’s histories and interact, That should be free.
If all of a sudden it is $100 to get in the door. That stops a LOT of people bringing their kids.
And if the focus has turned into a swap meet and fried dough stand with carney games.. It has lost ALL ethnic/ cultural meaning.
If that chubby chief is a dancer, I'm Fred Astaire. Besides, he has a Nazi logo on his left sleeve (I know, I know--this symbol has been part of Native American symbolic art for centuries. Just joshing.)
Too many pretendians likely. You have to prove ancestry but liberals could cite Inclusion.
She seems to have a cultural appropriation level of makeup on but also a bunch of hearts with a cross within so who knows for sure where she is from.
I like the squaws. They look a little ticked off, though.
I got to see a lot of the New Mexico/Southwest Indian stuff in the 1950s, dances and art, I wonder how different it was back then from today.
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