Southern Ute Tribal Fair: Contests

Friday - September 27, 2019 by McKayla Lee | The Southern Ute Drum

Team Beast Mode consisted of Shannon Howell, Jaelyn Alston, Myla Goodtracks, Keyon Alston, Kandin Johnson and Oasis Goodtracks. Their team walked away with first place and money in their pockets.

Steve Latham and his horse side step while in competition for the Sam Burch Memorial Horsemanship contest, Saturday, Sept. 14.

Travis Nanaeto and his horse Big Red ride through the obstacles.

All smiles and a winning attitude, Avaleena Naneto reaches to close the gate to move on with the contest.

Avaleena Naneto and Big Red gallop through the obstacles at the Sam Burch Memorial Horsemanship Contest, Saturday, Sept. 14.

Doc and owner Danielle Austin pose for quick pic after taking first place in the Sam Burch Memorial Horsemanship Contest, Saturday, Sept. 14.

Steve Latham closes the gate behind him before heading to the next part of the obstacles.

Women of the jalapeno eating contest brave it out trying to not give into the burning.

Leann Lopez stays focused with her eyes on the prize trying to get her last jalapeno down.

The men get prepared to feel the heat of the jalapenos at the 19th Annual Jalapeno Eating Contest.

Osias Goodtracks remains calm, cool and collected before the Tug-O-War Youth Competition begins.

Samuel Stubbs chows down, while looking down the table to see who his competition is. Stubs won grand champion of the 19th Annual Jalapeno Eating Contest with a time of 2:06.

Tallula Growler stuffs her mouth full of jalapeno in the hopes of finishing first.

Fidel Velasquez reaches down for the chicken pull bag. He eventually gets it out and heads for the finish line.

Chicken pull riders head down the tracks following the chicken pull bag worth $2 thousand, Sunday, Sept. 15.

One of the Southern Ute Fair favorites, spectators watch the battle of the chicken pull.

Ike Pena watches chicken pull contestants fight for the win.

Woody Pena tries to get away from Jerone Olguin with the chicken pull bag at the Chicken Pull Contest held for the Southern Ute Fair, Sunday, Sept. 15, at the Sky Ute Fairgrounds.

Chicken Pull contestants rush for the finish line, their last-ditch effort for the winnings.

Jessie Sanchez reaches for the bag while trying to stay atop her horse.

Team “Regulators,” from Sanostee, N.M. attempts to get a third person to climb the greased pole in the teams category of the contest.

Southern Ute Veteran, Raymond Baker tosses his beanbag to cancel out the opposing teams score during the corn hole tournament.

Sunshine Whyte throws the corn hole bag onto the board to score points for her team during the annual corn hole tournament on the Multi-Purpose field.

Drummers from all nine contest drum groups at the Southern Ute Tribal Fair Powwow compete to win the all cash grand prize at the Drum Group Jalapeno Eating Contest.

Bryan Harvey, representing Indian Horse Drum Group in the Jalapeno Eating Contest at the Southern Ute Tribal Fair Powwow is the first person to have all five jalapenos eaten and swallowed.

Aubrey Lucero started her fire and heats up the grease as she competes in the frybread making contest at the Southern Ute fairgrounds.

Miali Cantsee flips her dough back and forth before placing it in hot grease during the frybread contest, Sunday, Sept. 15.

Nicole Lansing checks her piece of bread before flipping it during the frybread contest.

Isabella Hudsen makes her best attempt to climb up the greased pole.

Lorenzo “Woody” Pena climbs up the greased pole and takes home first place in the adult category, Sunday, Sept. 15.

The youth Tug-O-War teams work together to pull the competition into the water as hard as they can — showing the opposite team what they’re made of.

The annual stick game tournament brought dozens of teams from the all across Indian Country to compete for the guaranteed cash prizes.

Hand game contestants sing while hiding the bones during the annual Southern Ute Tribal Fair Hand Game Tournament at the Sky Ute Casino Resort.

Teams from all across the Southwest came out to join the annual Southern Ute Tribal Fair Co-Ed Softball Tournament hosted at the Patrick Silva Field on Sunday, Sept. 15.

Lynnette Whyte tips the ball over the net, scoring a point against team Ute Mountain during the 3-on-3 Volleyball Tournament held on the SunUte Fields.

Team work! Philman Lopez, Quintin Baker, Matt Archuleta, Amos O’John and Brandon Johnson all try their hardest as a team to bring home the cash.

Tug-O-War contestants come out to show what they were made of, hoping not to get pulled into the mud pit.

Domarion Rivera and teammate Shalisha Chavez pull the rope as hard as they can before heading into the mud after losing in the first round.

Team Cereal Killers give it a go the first round pulling with all their strength, ultimately losing placing third in the women’s division.

Photo Credit: Trennie Collins | The Southern Ute Drum