As border wall construction closes in on the Tohono O’odham Nation, Tucsonans spent Indigenous Peoples Day in Old Pascua celebrating the people and culture the wall threatens.

The same day, contractors were expected to begin uprooting saguaros on the Tohono O’odham Nation to make way for a 62-mile section of the border wall. The tribe considers the saguaro among its most sacred plants and is fighting construction in federal court, where its requests have been denied so far.

Community members gathered Oct. 12 at Old Pascua’s Richie Resource Center, the former Richie Elementary School that the city of Tucson gave to the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras has hosted the event for the past 13 years, and this was the first time it was held outside South Tucson.

“Tucson gave back land to the Yaquis because it is in Old Pascua and so we utilized the baseball field and the inside of the Richie Resource Center,” said Alianza program manager JS Torres, who has helped organize the event for the last three years.

The event included 35 vendors selling food and art and tabling organizations that were run by or benefited Indigenous people.

Tina Andrews, a DJ for KOHN, the Tohono O’odham Nation’s radio station, served as the event’s master of ceremonies, with KXCI radio host and O’odham DJ Crash handling the music.

“We’re just really focused on uplifting O’odham people because at the Alianza it’s majority Yaqui, so we like to bring in O’odham relatives and uplift them as well,” Torres said.

The nonprofit Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras has begun sponsoring the Rio Yaqui Health project and the ceremonial lookout and traditional encampment, an O’odham-led organization with a mission to protect and preserve tradition and culture.

“They were supposed to do a workshop at Indigenous Peoples Day but what’s happening at the border wall has been increasingly difficult and they’re putting all their effort and time into the border wall, which is great,” Torres said.

The workshops were a new addition to this year’s Indigenous Peoples Day, meant to give organizations a designated time to present.

“We typically have a lot of people who want to speak, but we don’t have enough time in the programming,” she said. “Our event runs at least for nine hours. It used to run for 12 and we still didn’t have enough time.”

Workshops ran for four hours in the afternoon and were led by Jose Malvido, Sebastian Quinac, Cati Carmen, Blake Gentry, Nellie Jo David, Lourdes Escalante, Arte de Adriana and the No Desert Data Center Coalition, with presenters from Yaqui, Tohono O’odham, Hia-Ced O’odham, Cherokee and Maya Kaqchikel communities.

The event began with an opening blessing from Aunty Mary, followed by an opening from Lady T and DJ Crash. Performers included the Wa:k Tab Basket Dancers, the Apache Crown Dancers, the Tohono O’odham Gourd Singers Kaig Mek Ne’edam kc Kehindam, the Yaqui Deer Dance and Yoeme Group Yoeme Kolencia, Calpolli Teoxicalli and, finally, Gertie and the T.O Boyz.

The Kids’ Corner, coordinated by Natalie Granados, an educator and herbalist at Yolia Botanica and an Alianza volunteer, was also a recent addition to the event, having begun last year.

“I was actually volunteering in 2024 and I was walking around and saw lots of kids, but I thought there was no special place for them,” Granados said.

She spoke with Alianza Executive Director Lourdes Escalante in hopes of creating a space where kids can play and create and their parents can explore, knowing their children are safe in the community space.

Granados said the Richie Resource Center was a better venue than last year’s because the event was enclosed and safe, not only for kids but for people who have been fearful of stepping into public under the current administration.

“The only thing bad about last year was that the weather wasn’t on our side and the current political climate was affecting people being afraid to come out because of how we’re being threatened,” she said.

Granados provided activities including corn seed art, coloring, bracelet making, painting, bean bag tossing, potato sack racing and basketball for the older kids. Slice & Ice, a sponsor of the event, provided kids with free shaved ice.

“Events like this are important so that people know we’re still here and we’re still resisting,” Granados said. “I feel like when people come to these events and see others creating art, they’re inspired to do that themselves. It feeds into the community, creative change.”

The goal for future years is to continue to host the event on Indigenous lands. Alianza is eyeing Mission San Xavier del Bac or Sells for next year’s celebration.

“It’s a day to acknowledge our Indigenous sovereignty. We’re here thanks to our ancestors who are strong and trying to protect bloodlines,” Torres said. “We want people to experience joy instead of mourning and to learn about what’s going on in different tribal communities.”

Iliana Amador is a University of Arizona journalism alum and freelance journalist in Tucson.

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