Hundreds of young athletes from the three Ute tribes descended on Ignacio July 22-25 for the Tri-Ute Games. The event, hosted this year by the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and coordinated by SunUte Community Center staff, included friendly competition all over town in basketball, volleyball, swimming, cross-country, golf, bowling and skateboarding as well as traditional activities such as archery, hand games and shinny.
The official participant count for this year’s Tri-Ute Games was 333, with a fairly even split of more than 100 from each of the three Ute tribes. That made it by far the most popular iteration of the games yet, nearly doubling the previous record of 175 participants. Following each day’s competitions, participants gathered for social activities — including a dance and “dive-in movie” night in the SunUte Community Center pool — per the Tri-Ute mission: “to come together as one so our children can get to know each other better, fostering friendship between the … tribes.”