 Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for the presentation of the colors by the Longmont American Legion Post-32 Honor Guard. This working, yes. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing if you are able and put your hand over your heart. Veterans have earned the right to render the military salute. Please join us in saying the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing for the presentation of the colors by the Wind River Arapaho Northern Arapaho Warriors Color Guard. They will be presenting their colors and saying their pledge. Commander of the Wind River Arapaho Nation Color Guard, please present your colors. Ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing for the presentation of the Sister City colors. Please be seated. I'm sure everyone is feeling so privileged because you'll be able to hear from me again after this, but I'm gonna start by by giving a brief acknowledgement and you might be asking and I'll tell the story about how this Sister City relationship came to be in a little bit, but for now let it suffice that we acknowledge that Longmont sits on the traditional territory of the Cheyenne Arapaho you and other indigenous peoples in general as well as specifically today we honor the history and the living and spiritual connection that the first peoples have with this land that we call home. It is our commitment to face the injustices that occurred when the land was taken and to educate our communities ourselves and our children to ensure that these injustices do not happen again and the one way to make sure that happens is is an exchange of love which at least that's how I describe it I fell in love with the Northern Arapaho over the last three years so at this time I'd like to actually move on to the next part of our program the welcome where is she Courtney Michelle I'd like you to come up and give the welcome thank you welcome and thank you for joining us Yoko-so Okoshi Itadaki Arigato gozaimasu. Bienvenidos a todos gracias por estar aquí. Ene dos visite neteina nana na Courtney. Ni etajana ta anthana hana yei na usana. Now it is my pleasure to introduce Janice Reben president of Longmont sister cities to the Arapaho tribal tribal members welcome home Longmont's first sister city was created with Chino Japan in 1991 and a second relationship was formed with Ciudad Guzman Mexico in 1998 over 600 students have benefited from these two exchanges over the years these exchanges expose students to different cultures and create lasting bonds with their host families three years ago a delegation from Longmont comprised of Mayor Bagley City Council representatives city staff and sister city volunteers visited the Northern Arapaho on the Wind River Reservation on that trip we had many conversations and the idea to become sister cities was born in 2019 Longmont welcomed a student delegation from the reservation along with local students we had our first exchange with the Northern Arapaho COVID delayed our plans to formalize our relationship in 2020 however today we are celebrating the signing of a historic partnership this association between the Longmont and Northern Arapaho is unique and hopefully the first of many such partnerships between sovereign nations and local jurisdictions we have much to learn from each other and together we will build a brighter future this liaison is a step towards healing and an opportunity to create educational and cultural exchanges for both of our communities while this friendship is new already we have many close friends some we call family we have had a wonderful memories of our visits to the reservation sharing meals visiting schools attending a sweat there are so many people who have worked really hard over the past three years to make this new celebration possible we are grateful for your support understanding and commitment to this partnership while it would be impossible to name all we would like to thank my Mayor Brian Bagley for his dedication to this idea mayor would you like to speak about your experiences I know everybody here was when I left the podium you're like oh man but easy easy really coming back can't wait please let's hear more from Brian please but no so what no the just briefly I wanted to spend a few minutes that first of foremost the story I'm gonna tell is a little bit of how this came to be but the reality is what's really really cool is that I literally did nothing for today no no no I'm not you know those of you know me you're laughing because I'm lazy but but the what's really cool is this relationship is not my relationship right Steve fast horse wait Steve stand up for a sec will you this is Stephen fast horse take down your great I have to have a title to get applause and I say Steve and all of a sudden he's that cool yeah no so Steve is my I consider Steve my brother and one day I saw a YouTube video and was talking about the Lakota Sioux and and a reservation out in South Dakota and I got this idea that hey I wonder what it would be worthwhile to reach out and see if one of the tribes that used to frequent these lands would be interested in having a sister city relationship and I asked that question and everybody thought it was stupid and if you know me I don't I don't I don't really listen to people and so I was in the city office over there on 3rd and Carmen Ramirez Carmen was Carmen there she is and so Carmen Carmen was in the office and they said hey Carmen Carmen Carmen and we hadn't talked out much before then right I was just some loud mouthed guy and and Carmen I said how you doing Carmen she's good I got a question for you I got this idea and she kind of shook her head and on one hand I could tell she's like you're an idiot and on the other hand she's like but bless your heart you know and she said you know what instead of going to South Dakota you need to meet with the Arapaho the southern and the northern Arapaho are here in Boulder every year they have a group called oh my gosh rights relationships Boulder yes and so they get together about once a year and they would invite the northern Arapaho down and I was told by Carmen they're here you should go introduce yourself just just good luck with that but go so Carmen told me to go and so I took that literally and I showed up and I didn't realize that it would be a I mean imagine some guy walking in the door in the back and just coming to the stage and starting to talk with Steve right we'd be like we're having an event here and so I didn't know and so I showed up and I talked to Steve and we kept talking they kicked me out of the event because Steve and I got along so well he got my number I don't remember who called who but we started hanging out going to dinner he was on the business council he invited me up I went up again this time with staff and city management and council was wonderful I believe at that time Polly Christensen went up with me I don't know who else went up from council at that time it was a new cat was a different council Bonnie Finley went up and and so it was it was and I remember when we went up everybody I was gung-ho you know the long-lost city staff and council were kind of like well we're gung-ho and I know that the business council and your staff for a little bit like what you sure what's going on here and when we presented the idea I remember they're all quiet and they said yeah we I don't know if our elders are gonna go for this that you've got to get their permission I mean and so we're lucky enough to have I don't know what have there is Nelson Nelson white Eagle Nelson white senior who is not some man you should clap for him so the and and if the ceremonial elders hadn't trusted me and trusted us to be able to start something this would have never happened and given the history of this particular area of this nation and the multi-generational trauma that's been that's been caused by everybody in the past upon these wonderful people you know trusting me and trusting us to do something like this is a big deal and I remember the first time I remember the first time I met a ceremony leader was actually Nelson and his brother Crawford who I loved very much and their brother Herb and yeah and so and so just just so we're there for dinner in a meeting with the with the the elders of the tribe and afterwards about 11 o'clock at night and everyone's left and I think Steve and I were the last ones in the room and there is these three little old men in the back sitting down I was like oh look senior citizens too tired to go home how cute you know how cute you know and I go over there and I'm gonna go introduce myself you know not really understand and oh by the way Carmen made me go everywhere with Ray originally Ray's right there so Ray Ray Ray Ray Ray was Ray was my guide because so Ray I didn't know protocol I didn't know anything he I don't know anything about anything but Ray in this particular topic he's been a tribal CEO running running the tribal affairs he also worked with Narf the Native Americans right Native American Rights Foundation has relationships with First Nations here in Longmont and so he you know whenever I'd screw up he'd pull my my clothes that you don't say that you don't do that do this do that and he kind of trained me like a puppy but this particular day Crawford Nelson and Herb were sitting in the back and they're all veterans Crawford Nelson had on their purple hearts hats and I think they were in sunglasses at the time and I went to introduce myself and their brother Herb spoke for them and Herb said this just and I introduced myself and he says you need to have respect these these are the elders of our tribe these are our ceremonial leaders this is our pipe keeper the pipe keeper is the apex of the ceremonial leadership is there is basically their chief and so that that right there began the relationship between Longmont and the northern Arapaho leadership the both the business council and the ceremonial leaders and over that over that they I could I could tell a story that goes on for hours and hours about all the really neat relationship type stuff that we've done over the last three years and I cannot even begin to express in words the feelings and the love and the respect and appreciation that has grown between between our two or our sister res I guess you could call it because they're more than a city and I just want to publicly acknowledge and thank once more Nelson white eagle senior for letting this happen and participate in as much as you have and especially my love to your brother and I wish I miss him and I wish you were here to see this and participate and so he Crawford made this this Bolo everybody goes where'd you get this from Crawford made this when I wear it I'm thinking of him and honoring the part he played in this so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do now introduce who am I introducing Lee Spoonhunter so Lee well don't clap for Lee yet I haven't said his title he's not as cool as Steve or Carmen so no just kidding you're pretty cool so Lee Lee was the chairman of the business council when we started this relationship and he's the co-chair now but him and the current he's the co-chair and the current chair they tied the vote and so he becomes the chair again in December and so we're fortunate enough to have co-chairman Spoonhunter here to sign the official documents when it's time so thank you for coming Lee and now you can clap so I'm gonna turn the time over to you Lee Mayor Bagley is a tough act to follow so first of all as an a rappel my fellow rappels here on stage and out there we are home we're here I just want to thank Mayor Bagley Janice and Courtney the city council and all the other Longmont dignitaries in County and state dignitaries that are here with us today I want to say thank you for for welcoming us yesterday I was very fortunate to be able to go to Estes Park for the first time and after 44 is it 44 years of living I finally went up to Estes Park along with with one of my best friends and as you come down as you all know usually come down the mountain into the valley it is so beautiful so beautiful and one of my co-workers was telling me that earlier this spring early summer he had done the same thing and it would be it was his first time and he's over 40 years of age also and and he sure thought with me he said now I understand why our rappel people chose this land where to live especially here in Estes Park and in Longmont in Boulder and Denver you know talking one of our elders said you know we still have our paints our cedars and our water that's who we are as rappel people you know a very humble and sincere loving and respectful people and that's who we are and that's what makes Colorado our home I just wanted to share that with you all today today you know Brian talked a little bit about human councilman fast horses meeting in Boulder that would become fate for all of us together and it is something that started out as a as a meeting between two elected leaders and then a friendship and then a bond you know and our brothers and that's how we see all of you in Longmont we see us family every time that I've come down here I always say meeting with people from the community and people from from the city government may you all are our family you all came up and seen us over three years ago at home and you learned who we are it's that and Wyoming unfortunately doesn't happen you know we have people that are non-Indian who live around us and amongst us and yet today as we've seen these past few years that unfortunately racism is alive and well here in America and that is our job and our responsibility to combat that with the love and respect that you all see here today that is how we will come back so I was I was doing my homework on sister cities and I was thinking what can I say what can I bring to the table that's going to be unique in a speech among our people today and I looked and saw that sister cities was formed under President Eisenhower if I'm correct and it was formed city by cities counties states those kind of jurisdictions but never with a tribal sovereign nation and I know Mayor Brian Bagley went to sister cities with this idea years ago and the first time they told the mayor Bagley said they told him no and look at us today the city of Longmont and a tribal sovereign nation together is building a sister cities partnership and it's going to be beautiful as you see our our future generations in front of us students from here in Longmont and students from the Winterbird Reservation you we I was asked to talk about what are the goals and what are some of the things we intend to accomplish well we are a trailblazer today each of us working together both the sister city of Longmont and the Northern Raffle tribe the sky's the limit for us we are a sovereign nation working with our sister city and we are going to blaze a trail hopefully that many other cities and counties and states and other jurisdictions will do with other tribes so that we together as working together as family as sister cities will blaze a trail and this time in America we'll get it right now now a lot of us and I'm putting him on the spot but I do think we need to recognize him and that is Councilman Steven Fasthorse his tireless work with the city of Boulder and the city of Longmont and with Colorado is why we are here today so Steve I just want you to come up and say a few words because this would be possible without you good afternoon everyone I want to say thank you to everyone that is here this is a very big moment you know and I really appreciate all of you and for for taking the time out of your day to be here for this event because again for us as a leadership you know it's our role and responsibility to try and find what it is going to be that we can produce to help our children you know our youth for those who are going to be coming after us and the way that we have always looked at it as a Rappaho is you know we always look for the generations that are to come yet you know and as part of our job and responsibility is to change that and ensure protection that those generations are able to have success have opportunity and have the things that we didn't have you know and be able to aspire and help them do the things that we wish we could have done but yet also help to encourage them to go even further and go beyond you know anything that we have ever done you know and that's probably the biggest push for this whole effort was to try and change that that path you know so that our kids can come back to our homeland that we have always so so much yearned for you know because where we are in Wyoming on the Wind River Inn and Reservation you know we were forced upon those lands and forced upon another another try to to have to accept us to be on that land and that has always been a big I guess you could say a big void you know for us as a as a people because when we sit there and try to reflect on our history to reflect on our past we can only go so far because we're on lands that we really didn't call home the lands that we originally called home are here as chairman mentioned you know Estes Park Cherry Creek all of these areas there there's a tree that is no longer it might have got burned in the Fort Collins area but it was called the the council tree it was a tree that a lot of tribes used to come to and congregate as leaders and chiefs of their tribes and have discussions together and that's along the front range here those areas are very significant to us and something that our people have never been able to do right now I believe in Boulder Colorado they're renaming a park it's called Settlers Park but they've inquired and consulted with a lot of the tribes to rename that part from Settlers Park to I believe they want to call it our people's park to represent all the nations that used to frequent this area but one thing about that part Settlers Park was originally the winter camp of one of the chiefs as you guys know it a Niawa but there is a Rappahoe word for for Niawa can somebody help me Nawa is the true way to say his name now that was his winter camp and it was very hard for us as a Rappahoe to try and participate in this this consultation because it was very significant to us as a winter camp but yet we also have to recognize all the other tribes because we weren't the only ones but again we made sure that it was mentioned that that was one of our chiefs winter camps and how that came to be you know and and so again it's things like that that I want our children to know I want our children to be here and be able to walk into the mountains and some of these trails and some of these waterways and know and understand that it was our ancestors and their mocks and footprints that are still there the ceremonies that they did and the medicines that they use are still here and so I hope one day that you all as a community along with our kids and our youth will have that opportunity to take our kids to some of these areas because they were very significant to us and the medicine that has been used for time immemorial those medicines are still within all these areas and I hope that during one of these adventures of our youth that they're able to capture that feel that and regain and help out restore I appreciate you guys all and you know I just look forward to this and I can't wait to hear good stories from the sister cities organization and I appreciate you all and I hope that one day we're all able to have a really good understanding and I hope that we can see some of your community in our community so that you guys can experience and learn the the value system that that we go by as we're Apple people as you know we're part of an international organization Longmont sister cities has been a sister city organization since it's 31 years at this point and it is my honor and pleasure to introduce Carol Lopez president of sister cities international oftentimes I'm Carol Lopez when I give speeches I say well I'm honored to be here today well I'm more than honored to be here today this is such a historical day and for me this has been such a meaningful day and I want to thank the officials of Longmont I want to thank the leaders of the Orapahoe nation that are here today and I want to specifically acknowledge all the youth that are here today and I want to apologize to the young people for the world we're leaving you we're leaving you horrible problems to solve and it's only going to be through young people working together learning together that we're going to be able to solve such issues as climate change the social injustice in this world and just talking to you some today I know you're up to the task but we need behind you supporting you every way and I can tell that the Orapahoe nation and the community of Longmont is here behind you this week sister cities international is celebrating its 65th anniversary which is exciting general Eisenhower after seeing the horrors of world war two said we have to do something we cannot resolve our conflicts through military action killing devastation and he knew that when people know each other they don't want to fight with each other because when we learn from each other we gain mutual respect and understanding and we have done this internationally we have over 2,000 partnerships around the world but in the United States we haven't found a way to find peace with each other and it's time that we find peace with each other and this sister city relationship is going to promote mutual respect and understanding and that's phenomenal because when we learn from each other we know each other we realize how much we actually have in common we all want the same things we all want to be able to have meals to eat to be able to have health care to be able to provide for our children we want the same things we want peace but i'd remiss if not saying the united states has a very troubled past we have many many things that we need to find reconciliation about that we need to come back and look back at these we can no longer just keep covering up and i think that's what's happening in the united states today and part of the reason it's happening is our young people and i think many of us have hungered for these dialogues to take place and we have to continue these dialogues if the united states of america is really going to live up to everything that we need this country to be today we saw some amazing veterans and i'm so proud of our veterans and many of you probably already notice know this but as a population group native americans serve at a higher percentage than any other group in our armed forces so when people talk about patriotism i'll tell you it's our first nations that understood patriotism more than any other group but together we can do so much so today we're having this signing and i know president eisenhower is looking down at us and he is saying great it's about time to have this signing today to bring communities together i can tell you that the sister cities website has this whole event on it and i was in washington last week and we were committed to creating more of these partnerships and it's because of the courage of mayor bagley the longmont city council and the rapaho nation to come together and say we need a new way we need a way to bring ourselves together and learn from each other this is what will strengthen the united states so i've said enough it's such a joy to be here today i do believe our creator puts us in the right place at the right time and when i got this invitation i i responded maybe but i immediately went to work to figure out how i could be here today so thank you for having me i wish you all the best and to our young people be brave i'd like to welcome to the stage our youth representatives from both communities so i'd like to invite karmine remiras and brendan harjoe to the stage to help us with the gift exchange the pipe out the pipekeepers asked that you accept on his behalf lee okay so karmine asked me to share with all of you these blankets were made with the northern apple symbol and the sister city symbol and this blanket here is being presented to our pipekeeper mr. nelson white senior yeah he is an avid damper bronco fan so he's gonna love that bag one of the cool things that i've learned or and observed from uh the tribe is that every time they have a get-together they do a giveaway and so uh congratulations jump circle we're saying thank you we had blankets made for the drum circle as well for coming down and playing for us and then the next set of gifts is for the honor garbage who are willing to come down and present colors for us those those three from the northern arapahoe nation could i have the northern arapahoe business council come on up so we've created a commemorative poster of this event which we will have chairman uh co-chairman spoon hunter and mayor bagley sign but i will show it what it looks like and the northern arapahoe business council will each receive one of these posters can i have the members of my planning committee come up um courtney sherry sam jenny patricio sue bolton come on up sue so uh janice and court and courtney right brendan uh we have special gifts for you for being uh the leaders of helping all of this we had shawls made by one of our tribal members and so brendan is going to show you it and then we want you to put it on janice courtney also the boys are going to go grab it because it's heavy but mayor brian bagley and if the city council will come forward we have a gift for you all from the northern arapahoe tribe and i just want to i just want to recognize as they're coming up they're all here we've got susie doggo farang we've got jone pack poly christiansen martin martin and dr tim waters okay so we should have the gift coming out here and what i'm gonna do while uh we get it out here to present is i'm gonna i'm gonna explain what it what it means here and this is something that we hope you guys will enjoy and uh have in your your hall or in your administration building the rapahoe flag was created in 1936 as a sign of respect and remembrance for the rapahoe war veterans the three colors used each have a different meaning and symbolism red is for the people black so the people will be strong and unfairing of death white represents knowledge to be passed onto the young the seven stripes each represent one of the seven medicines of life the white triangle signifies the way one begins a prayer great spirit that's the way i want it the circle in the exact center of the triangle is black on the left because that's where the heart is the right side of the circle is red representing the human side for our happiness strength and sorrowful ways the white line dividing the two spheres represents the great spirit so we will not forget who created us the entire circle represents the world the center of our lives the rapho people approved and adopted the flag in 1956 oh thank you everyone and thank you council members we appreciate you guys and again i know we've also gifted you guys a star quilt that was made by another one of our tribal members and this here has been made by one of our tribal members also and so again we thank you and hope you guys are able to find a nice place to represent our our relationship together so thank you and just just so everybody knows that star quilt he referred to hangs over in city hall in our in our primary entry way if everyone could return to their seats um this this official signing ceremony is over but it wouldn't be a celebration if we didn't have some entertainment um and first up the northern arapaho brought their drum circle we tried to think of what in longmont would be representative of our community along with the with drums and so we now have the longmont high school drum line now have the opportunity to enjoy traditional arapaho dances and the ethety eagle drum circle we're short staffed it's my honor to introduce harvey spoon hunter who is going to describe the dances for us good job as a nelson white and nothing nothing this man in that bass no i mean nothing nothing and uh band head and that's not you know but i uh need be here so i'd like to thank before i speak i asked my older brother nelson white eagle senior and all my elders excuse me for speaking before them if i make any mistakes or say anything wrong it's just part of our tradition our respect for our elders so with that we'll along with some entertainment but uh for again again i'd like to take a mirror baglet bagley he said he was going to come and sing with us and he was going to do lip sync so if you see him really going he's seen in his heart out before we get started like which is any of our performances we have our eagle drum society it's called a eagle drum drum group and each one of these singers that you see before you they're inducted into the society we have our drumkeeper like our pipekeeper we have our drumkeeper mr michael ridgebearer mr richard richard brown mr ellison sage senior theron theron spoon hunter we have phylicia anilow hillan yellow bear carry white anilow we had one of our other drummers uh blaze yellow bear what we're going to start out with is what we call a grand entry and a grand entry is epitome of song and dance what you're going to see before you is a parade a parade of dancers with all their spectacular regalia each dancer has their own style of dance we're going to show you a different style of dancing each dancer has their own regalia there's no one regalia that's exactly a light and there's thousands and thousands Native American dancers and not one regalia is a light and a lot of these regalia that you see before you takes years and years a lot of them are handed down from generation to generation but they're very special to the dancer has a lot of meaning significance symbolism so what's that right here okay in in our Native American culture dance is a way of expression a language in itself it promotes community interaction and mediation dances tell stories they're used as a medium for prayers and each dance has its own significance meaning so our first dance we want to share with you is what we call the men and ladies traditional dance and these dances are the oldest form of dances they usually tell a story and they have the beauty of the of the eagle the men's traditional usually signified when the warriors or the hunters would come home from a hunting party or a battle or a horse raid they would come home and they would tell a story it was up to the people in the village to read their story it was usually told of an exhibition our deed in battle and with a woman's it's more of a subtle graceful type of dance and what that signifies when the ladies would raise their hand they would be watching out for their sons their husbands our brothers coming home from a battle and by raising their eagle fan they're welcome and back home why yeah here next style of dance is what we call the men's grass dance and the chicken dance grass dance is one of the oldest and most widely used dances in Native American culture it was a job of the grass dancers to flatten the grass in the arena before other important celebrations the name grass dance was actually derived from the old custom of tying braids of sweet grass to the denser belts which produced a swaying effect the grass dance was considered only a man's dance it is sought to have urgenated with the northern plains indians especially the Omaha Ponca and the Dakota Sioux tribes Native American culture is full of whole legends that connect many different rituals with stories of ancient ancestors and lived in harmony with the nature the legend of the grass dance talks about a handicapped northern plains boy who had a desire to dance after consulting the medicine man he was instructed to seek inspiration on a prairie following the advice of the medicine man he went out alone on the plains where he had a vision of himself dancing in the style of the swaying grasses this is what you'll see before you the next dance we share is what we call the women's jungle dress dance women are considered the backbone of tribal nations women's traditional dance is a very graceful dance that requires concentration and stamina with movements that are very focused it can seem as though dancers are floating along the ground is a dip and sway to the rhythm of the drum throughout the dance the women stay connected to mother earth at all times by always keeping one foot attached to her as they move in time with the drum the woman's jingle dress urgenates from the ajibwe people it is a healing dance and is considered to be based on a young ajibwe woman's dream jingle dress dances are often called upon to dance for the sick or injured in order to be a jingle dress dancer one must dream of becoming one this dress is adorned with 365 cones one to represent each day of the year and each cone contains a prayer last dance would be our next dance would be the dance fancy feather dance this dance is fast paced colorful and highly energetic the dancer needs to have a lot of stamina and strength to maintain all the extremely athletic movements for an extended period of time the dance regalia is bold and colorful add into the impact of this dance it often includes brightly colored feather bustles and headwear legans moxons fancy dancers are the most common scene in public power today and it has become a competitive sport in the inner tribal power gatherings so you notice that dance he's got stop right on time keep right in time with the drum stops right on time i used to do that but now when i when i stop my belly keeps moving the last dance we want to share with you is women's fancy shawl dance the women's fancy shawl dance is considered a fairly new dance among native american tribes the regalia worn is bright colorful well adorned with beadwork or a plate it is said that the fancy shawl dance is an adaption of the ceremonial butterfly dance native american legend associates this dance and it's regalia to young native american woman and she transitioned from a child to a young lady just like a butterfly right here i'd like to thank you for sharing our culture with you and this spiritual meaningful event at this time i i'd like uh i'd like all the dancers to i would be amiss if you didn't mention their names those and i don't know any a he be can i just say uh Dr. Teresa Spunenter i'm a professor at central wyoming college um and i'd like to say thank you to all the dancers who answered my call to come and perform hello hi um my name is Deandre Augustine hello i'm marisa gardener hello um my name sorry i could take my mask down my name is herb augustine i'm a member of the northern rapo tribe and uh half of these kids you see here are mine and uh got my son and my daughter's over here my wife thank you my name's antonia zollarzana my name is one my name is britney augustine and this is my daughter amaryllis augustine um my name is rihanna spunenter hello my name is taeus spunenter my name is aona spunenter my name is denayla augustine i'd like to thank the business council for allowing us to come share part of our culture thank you haho we have one final group that is going to perform here today um they uh are represent a special part of our community they grew up in the longmont youth center along with some of these kids down here in the front row um they uh continue to work with youth in our community um they have a special energy that is unique and a style of dance so it is uh while we're waiting for this the jingles to die down here um i do really want to thank the eagle drum group for honoring us with your performance along with all of our other performers we're really pleased that you took the time out of your life especially our youth as you've noticed we're a lot about youth in this area and um in both communities youth are really important to us so without further ado you guys ready all right i'm gonna get out of your way i don't have to um i would invite everyone to join us in the courtyard for a performance with bridget law and tiaro uh there also will be lemonade and water out there because i'm sure everybody's a little parched at this point thank you so much for coming i would be remiss if i didn't thank the longmont multicultural action committee for partially funding some of tonight's performances and hotel rooms so thank you for those representatives thank you to the american legion to our wonderful rapaho color guard the eagle drum group all of our dancers and especially all of our youth we have great faith in you thank you