OKMULGEE – This year, during the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s 50th Festival, the annual Traditional Games were held at the Claude Cox Omniplex on June 20. During the event, they served lunch, played stickball, heard Mvskoke storytelling, competed in the turtle races, and demonstrated the game Chunkey. 80 citizens attended the event, and MCN Principal Chief David Hill even participated in the games himself.
Traditional Games Coordinator Johnnie Sue Wesley (Mvskoke/SacNFox) spoke about this year’s event, her first to coordinate.
According to Wesley, a time crunch meant sticking with four activities, but she was very happy with the turnout. She said they had at least 80 people come by because they were able to give away all their boxed lunches. In the future, she hopes to see this expand, with a clearer timeframe for planning more activities.
She thinks the kids had a really fun time and even noticed the MCN Chief participated in everything. She said she also thinks the citizens enjoyed seeing him interact at the event.
“It went really good, and I did hear from the kids. They really loved the turtle race. One little boy made sure to come and tell me that he liked throwing that atlatl,” Wesley said.
Wesley’s favorite event was the turtle racing because, she said, laughing, she saw everyone yelling and trying to get those turtles out of the circle.
Traditional Game Turtle Racing Results
Age Group 0-6:
1st place- Luke Sand from Okmulgee, with his turtle “Luke”
2nd place- Presley Agee from Henryetta with her turtle “Michael Jackson”
Age Group 7-13:
1st place- Paden from Henryetta with her turtle “Franklin”
2nd place- Harper from Okmulgee with her turtle “Taco”
3rd place- Lakota Price and Deacon from Beggs with their turtle “Donatello”
Adults:
1st place- Melissa Beaver with her turtle “Franklin”
2nd Chief Hill with his turtle “Okfuskee Fvmbe”
3rd place- Pam David with her turtle “Luke”
