Ten-year-old Trent McKewan performs a traditional Ute chicken dance for the crowd in Hartwell Park, as part of the Ridgway Independent Film Festival’s programming on Sunday. McKewan performed with his dad, Tyrone, and brother, Liam, who traveled from Ft. Duchesne, Utah, to come to the 2nd Annual Uncompahgre Pow Wow in Montrose. They are members of the Northern Ute Tribe. Erin McIntyre | Ouray County Plaindealer

Ute dancers invited the crowd to join them for a circle dance in Hartwell Park during the Ridgway Independent Film Festival’s events last weekend, including the film “Remaining Native,” about a young Native American runner. The presentation included Afrem Wall and his daughter, Sukie, and Tyrone McKewan and his sons Trent and Liam, who are members of the Northern Ute Tribe from Fort Duchesne, Utah, as well as Ute Mountain Ute Tribe members Lisa Jacket, Acasia Lee and Timber Manning from southern Colorado. Wall told attendees it meant a lot to return to the tribes’ ancestral homeland. The Ute people are the oldest residents of Colorado, and their homelands included most of Colorado, northern New Mexico, and eastern Utah as well as parts of Wyoming. The tribes left the region after the Brunot Agreement was ratified in 1874, allowing settlers to develop mining in the San Juans. Erin McIntyre | Ouray County Plaindealer

Tyrone McKewan performs a traditional Ute dance for the crowd in Hartwell Park, as part of the Ridgway Independent Film Festival’s programming last weekend. McKewan is a member of the Northern Ute Tribe at Fort Duchesne, Utah. Photo by Erin McIntyre | Ouray County Plaindealer