APACHELAND

Apacheland Reunion

Back in the old days of 1955, the film industry was flourishing right here in Gold Canyon, Arizona.  Hollywood had built up a village of different movie sets for filming western movies.

There was the Elvis Presley Chapel featured in the movie "Charro!" and the Apacheland Barn, a hulking structure where dozens of western films and TV serials were shot. Today, the chapel is a movie memorabilia museum showing the movies that were filmed at Apacheland and the barn houses cement bootprints of the stars that once appeared at Apacheland.  Included in those “bootprints” are the handprints of our good friend Lindsay.  It seems as though she won a chug-a-lug contest at the bar one night and was honored after drinking all the guys under the table.  I don’t know if the handprints were taken as she crawled out from the bar on her hands and knees or if it was a professionally staged event. 

Well, as with all good westerns, Apacheland has gone up in smoke; the great fire of 2009.  The cook at the steakhouse let  the grill fire get out of hand and it started a grease fire, which started a kitchen fire and spread to the whole restaurant, which got blown across the street by a strong westerly wind, and finally started the Apacheland fire.  The whole Apacheland complex has now been replaced by a small housing development.

Enter the Superstition Mountain Museum.  They managed to salvage a few of the buildings and move them to their new site on the museum grounds.  Now, for a small fee you can relive a bit of the old movie nostalgia; rub shoulders with some authentically dressed period cowboys, eat some authentic Indian fry bread, and watch a real old west gunfight.  But today it was the Yellow Bird Indian Dancers along with Indian lore storytelling, and nationally known Apache maser basket weaver Evelena Henry.

The Native American Duncan family from Mesa, Arizona hosted the dancing and Indian lore.  The elder Duncan greeted us with a story of Indian family and tribe unity.  He said we must always be close to family and those we love, for you never know what the future holds.  Last year as the Duncan family was preparing for the annual dance fest, they had a family picnic at a park just one-half mile down the road.  His father and step-mother were there, both in their 90’s.  Good times were had by all, but this year, both his father and his step-mother had passed away.  Though they were in their 90’s the memories of them are still fresh, and how he wishes he could one more time share those tender moments with them.

There were other Indian folk lore told, most of which were passed on to the younger members of the tribe to show them how the Indian and the earth were intertwined and dependent upon each other. 

The Yellow Bird dancers are an award winning group and they showed it in their hoop dances. Laying their hoops on the ground in front of them and then flicking them up

with their feet when needed they were able to depict many of the creatures and natural surroundings they would encounter; the eagle, the snake, buffalo, coyote, wind and rain.   The dancers ranged from those of ancient days to young children.  They all had a love of the dance and a great respect of the Indian way.

After the dancing I was talking to the elder Duncan and mentioned how an Indian hoop dancer, Tony White Cloud, would come to my school when I was just a littel nipper in the fourth grade.  He said that Tony White Cloud was one of the founders of the hoop dance movement. I know that he had instilled an appreciation of hoop dancing and many of the Indian traditions in my life. 

The Indians are a very respectful people, and at one time the MC chastised some of the audience for walking across the dance area while the Indians were performing; it was very rude she proclaimed.

Not long after her etiquette speech a couple of older late comers casually strolled across the arena right as a dance was being performed.  

Old folks, Ya gotta love ‘em.  We’ve been there done that, it’s just that we don’t remember and we don’t care.