Oklahoma’s Red Earth Festival
by Brandy McDonnell
Despite the oppressive heat, hundreds of spectators crowded outside the Cox Convention Center to watch the 24th annual Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival open with its annual parade. Viewers clapped, cheered and bobbed to the patriotic music as the National Guard band made its first Red Earth parade appearance. The festival’s first grand entry Friday ended with veterans among the dancers and from the audience taking the Cox arena floor to accompany the three color guards in a special victory dance.
“I’m glad they’ve done that this year. … I think it’s the greatest thing they could do,” said Darrell Moore, a Pawnee native who now lives in Dallas. “If it wasn’t for the veterans, they wouldn’t be able to have this.” The Army veteran, who is of Pawnee and Otoe-Missouria descent, wears a red, white and blue ribbon on his black and green regalia when he competes in the golden age men division of the Southern Straight Dance.
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