Community and candy: Fort Yates holds Long Soldier Parade

The crowd hummed with energy, despite the colder-than-average temperature and overcast sky. Parents and grandparents cheered as colorful floats passed by, their occupants tossing candy and other goodies, like T-shirts. Kids giggled as they stuffed their fists with sugary treats.

With the mighty Missouri River glistening next to the candy-littered street, the Standing Rock residents celebrated their connection to water for this year’s parade theme: “Save Water, Save Life.”

Standing Rock has a fraught history with tribal water sovereignty. In September 2015, the tribe passed a resolution opposing the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline — a 1,100 mile pipeline across the Missouri River just north of the reservation — on grounds that the pipeline threatened the tribe’s water supply and cultural resources. When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved construction the following January, tribal members and environmental activists gathered in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in protest. Despite the tribe’s opposition, DAPL began operating in 2017. The Standing Rock tribe is still fighting to shut it down.

“Save Water, Save Life” recognizes the tribe’s reliance on the Missouri River and celebrates the sacredness of water with this history in mind.

Alva Cottonwood-Gabe, a Standing Rock elder who organized the parade, looked over her shoulder to the Missouri River, gesturing to the people sitting atop their parade floats. “The creator gave us this day,” she said. Then, as rain misted her face, she joked that even the rain was on theme.

Wacantkiya Mani Win Eagle, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, attended the parade with her two nephews, IzReal and AzReal Fog in the Morning. She waved to the parade floats driving by and picked up a freeze pop that landed by her feet.

AzReal turned back to her with wide eyes. “Look what I got,” he exclaimed, presenting his newly retrieved treasure: a popcorn ball.

Kennedy Pleets and her horse, Copper, fueled the crowd’s excitement as they rode near the front of the parade with four other mounted riders. The horses with their heads held high passed kids watching in wonder.

Pleets, who has participated in the Long Soldier Parade for five years, said the sense of community is powerful when you get horses and their riders together.

This year, Pleets and her friend made two colorful and shell-studded horse masks by hand, to be worn by horses during celebrations like powwows or parades. Pleets awarded the masks to the two best-dressed horses. She said the prize encouraged more riders to join this year.

The Long Soldier Parade has been a Fort Yates staple for decades, according to Cottonwood-Gabe, who has organized the parade for nine years and helps organize the three-day Long Soldier Powwow that takes place the same weekend.

Cottonwood-Gabe remembers going to the Long Soldier Parade with her grandma when she was young. She remembers streets filled with dancers, singers and horseriders. But she said the parade “fizzled out” when it lost its organizers. So driven by the memory of parade days with her grandma, Cottonwood-Gabe took over as the organizer.

Cottonwood-Gabe looked around at the parked parade floats as the parade came to a close and families jumped back into their cars with bags full of goodies. “Did you notice how everybody was getting along?” she said. “There’s so many positive things in this community. If we all pull together like we did today, we can do some awesome things.”