This weekend the public is invited to join The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation in celebrating the 37th annual Orme Dame Victory Days with the colorful pageantry of pow wow dancing and the rugged wrangling of rodeo sports Nov. 16-18.

Native Americans from across North America will make their way to Fort McDowell for the pow wow and rodeo competition.

The pow wow dancers will compete with four programs beginning Friday evening, Nov. 16. Gourd dancing begins at 6 p.m. with the Grand Entry at 7 p.m.

On Saturday there will be two sessions with the first gourd dancers beginning at 11 a.m., followed by Grand Entry at 1 p.m. An evening event will start with gourd dancers at 6:30 p.m. and Grand Entry at 7:30 p.m.

Gourd dancers begin at 12 noon on Sunday, Nov. 18, followed by Grand Entry at 1 p.m.

Men and women will compete in the all-Indian rodeo beginning on Friday, Nov. 16, with slack at 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday, with junior events at Saturday slack.

Competition performances will be held at 1 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The short program of top 10 is Sunday, Nov. 19, at 12 noon.

The events include bull riding, saddle bronc, bareback, steer wrestling and tie down roping.

Women will compete in barrel racing and breakaway roping.

Beyond these feature events the Orme Dam Victory Days Parade will be held on Saturday, Nov. 17, at 9 a.m. The parade route is along Fort McDowell Road between Ba Hon Nah Road and Yuma Frank Road.

Events also include a Yavapai Village to showcase cultural performances from different tribes of the Southwest, basketball, softball and golf tournaments, authentic native food vendors, arts and crafts vendors and live music entertainment.

This historic event celebrates the tribe’s victory over the federal government during their battle over the proposed Orme Dam that would have flooded a majority of the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation adjacent to Fountain Hills. The proposed dam would have resulted in relocation, loss to crops, livestock, burial grounds, and historic sites just to name a few.

The Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation is a 950 Native American tribe that call Central Arizona’s upper Sonoran Desert home. Located to the northeast of Phoenix within Maricopa County, Arizona, the 40 square mile reservation is a small part of the ancestral territory of the one nomadic Yavapai people, who hunted and gathered food in a vast area of Arizona’s desert lowland and mountainous Mogollon Rim country.

For questions about the Orme Dam Victory Days Celebration, call 480.789.7106 or visit www.fmyn.org. The Fort McDowell Rodeo Grounds are located at 9500 S. Rodeo Drive in Fort McDowell, AZ 85264.

The public is welcome to attend and all activities are free with a $10 parking fee.