The Shan Kive of 1912 was citywide - with parades, a balloon race, fireworks, and a masked ball. Seventy-five Utes, led by Buckskin Charlie who had himself been born in the Garden, were invited up from the Ignacio Reservation. They helped to mark the old Ute Trail, posed for many photographs, and held special tribal dances in the Garden of the Gods. The dances of August 27 were attended by more than 7,000 spectators. A special article describing the dances appeared in the Colorado Springs Gazette of 28 August 1912:
"In a riot of color, with their gay blankets and many hued feathers, and to the tune of the wierd music handed down from generation to generation, the band of 75 Ute Indians attending the carnival gave their dances yesterday afternoon before several thousand people in the Garden of the Gods, the historic stamping ground of their forefathers. The eager spectators came in autos and they came on motorcycles; they drove in smart carriages and they drove in old camp wagons of frontier times; they rode burros and horseback and they walked - they came singly and in pairs and in droves, and they stayed to the end, about 7,000 of them...."The Indians danced upon a platform high up on the side of the southern Gateway rock of the Garden, so that everybody had a clear view of their interesting gyrations.
SUN DANCE THE FEATURE "The famous sun dance, a sacred dance with the Utes, was the feature of the program. And the Indians proved to the palefaces that the worship of their gods was not all in vain. The sun dance started under unfavorable consitions, so far as the red men were concerned. The sun was behind a heavy bank of clouds, and every indication pointed to rain. The Utes began their dance, using the short, jerky, bumpy, step peculiar to all Indian dances. Accompanied by tomtoms and singing, the braves and squaws danced for perhaps five minutes, and just as the dance emded the sun broke through the clouds and shone brightly for quite a while...."
