Welcome to the POWWOW
Miss Indian World contestants, from left, Kelly Walker of Lawrence, Kan.; Shandiin Nanamkin-Spencer from Keller on the Colville Reservation in Washington; Becca Lynn Kirk of Portland Ore.; Valentina Blackhorse of Kayenta, Ariz.; and Katrina Blackwolf of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon, acknowledge the audience at the start of the competition in the Albuquerque Convention Center’s Kiva Auditorium on Thursday. There are 23 contestants in the pageant that kicks off the Gathering of Nations Powwow.