Haskell plans Indigenous World Market, powwow for World Cup visitors

Haskell Indian Nations University is turning the World Cup spotlight into an economic and cultural opportunity in Lawrence, with plans for an Indigenous World Market, a powwow and Friday Facts presentations aimed at drawing visitors onto campus. The goal is not just to entertain tourists headed to Kansas City, but to convert regional attention into vendor sales, family visits and a broader understanding of Native history in Douglas County.

Claralynn Ayze, the university’s 2026-27 Miss Haskell and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, is helping shape the programming. She expects to dance in Fancy and Jingle categories at the powwow, assist with educational presentations and run the children’s area at the market. That space is set to include books, coloring, bracelet-making and teamwork games, giving younger visitors a hands-on entry point into Haskell’s cultural outreach.

The market also is being built around Native entrepreneurship. Darryl Monteau, who is Kiowa, Apache and Comanche, plans to bring Indian tacos, vegetarian tacos, frybread and posole through Monteau’s Indian Tacos. Makayla Sloan, a Cherokee Nation bead artist, will sell handmade work at different price points, reflecting a market where some visitors may be looking for affordable pieces and others for more elaborate art. Sloan wants people to see beadwork as both accessible and highly artistic, a message that fits Haskell’s effort to make the campus feel open rather than closed off.

The timing matters. FIFA says Kansas City is hosting nine World Cup matches in 2026, including Argentina vs. Algeria on June 16 and a quarter-final on July 11. That puts Lawrence within reach of a major international traffic surge, and Haskell is positioning itself to catch some of that movement with events that are rooted in the university’s own traditions. Its Indian Art Market, normally held the second weekend in September, grew out of the Lawrence Indian Art Show and attracts hundreds of visitors each year. Haskell says the market gives Native American artists an economic opportunity while also encouraging cross-cultural understanding and exchange.

The university’s graduation powwow each May draws families and friends from more than 140 tribal nations, and recent powwows have shown the local audience is already there. Haskell’s February 2026 Welcome Back Powwow drew hundreds of community members, and a September 2025 powwow did the same. Haskell describes itself as “historic in time, founded in education and rich in heritage,” and its 15-member National Board of Regents, with 13 appointed through tribal or intertribal resolution, reflects that Native governance structure. Lawrence’s recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday in October further ties the city to that identity, making the World Cup a chance to show Douglas County as part of a larger multitribal community.