Gallup Indian Ceremonial: The State's Midas Touch In Reverse

Above, the 2019 Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial rodeo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The state government of Gov. "Malevolent Michelle" Lujan Grisham seems to have the "Midas Touch In Reverse", meaning, everything they touch turns to crap.

Such is the direction that the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial that's held in the summer. We're closing in on Ceremonial time, but there has been no real announcements, even though the Gallup True Facebook page states that a big announcement is "coming soon" and hints that the Ceremonial will be "virtual". Why isn't there anything in the official Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial Facebook page?

The state appears to have taken over the Ceremonial and that is the problem. The people in the Grisham Administration, namely, the New Mexico Tourism Department, have already screwed up the Ceremonial.

The Gallup Sun posted an article on the problems with the Ceremonial on May 7 and here's how it began:

It’s hard to know whose signature is on Gallup’s signature event.

To listen to New Mexico Tourism Department Secretary Jen Schroer and the Intertribal Ceremonial Office Executive Director Melissa Sanchez tell it to the Gallup City Council April 27, the ICO is inclusive, with a task force Sanchez describes as “comprised of some of the local Ceremonial office members, as well as event coordinators, special events people who have worked at other special events … and also Ceremonial volunteers.”

But not everybody listening came away with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Kyle Tom, president of the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, said the meeting held no surprises for him.

It “sounded exactly what I thought it would be, which means, they did anything they could to cover their [ass] and deflect any of the hard-hitting issues that needed to be brought up,” he said.

The direction the tourism department is taking emphasizes promotion, wraparound services for marketing support, and the introduction of new revenue.

Schroer also told the council about a new tourism event investment impact calculator, designed to forecast how many room-nights an event generates.

But Tom wasn’t impressed with speculative resources.

“They want to bring in their Santa Fe expertise. Gallup is not Santa Fe,” he said. “There’s way more differences between Gallup and Santa Fe than there are similarities.”

 

Above, meeting results of Jen Schroer and Melissa Sanchez.

The state's know-it-alls have basically taken over the Ceremonial and kicked out (despite the smiley rhetoric) the Gallup locals who have experience in putting it on.

The feeling in Gallup can be summed up as follows (from the article):

Palochak said she’s hearing from her constituents and they don’t sound happy about the state’s plans for the 2021 Ceremonial.

“I believe from all the comments I’ve gotten from the community, they feel that they have been slighted, that our Inter-Tribal Ceremonial Association is not a part of this,” she said. “They have been kind of shoved to the side.”

Palochak pointed out that in the past when Ceremonial had a state director, that person was housed in Gallup and worked to develop relationships within the community, attracting volunteers. That, she said, is not being done with the current tourism department model.

Yes, this is a clear example of government meddling leading to the "Midas Touch In Reverse".

To read the full article, go here.