Meet the Committee Members
First Peoples Festival has an Indigenous Committee, including Nico Strange Owl, John Gaisthea, Jeremiah Rising Buffalo Maybee, Sandra Huerta, and Andre Dunn.
Nico Strange Owl
Our consultant, Nico Strange Owl, is a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana and has worked with Indigenous art and artists over the past forty years. She is the current owner of Eagle Plume’s, a historic trading post at the base of Long’s Peak near Allenspark, Colorado. She has also worked as a bead worker, an appraiser, and a consultant of Native art, worked with museums, operated galleries, and has been in the art business all her life. She is also the descendant of Sand Creek Massacre survivors and is truly home in Colorado.
John Gaisthea
John Gaisthea bio forthcoming.
Jeremiah Rising Buffalo Maybee
My name is Jeremiah RisingBuffalo Maybee. I come from the Northern Arapaho & Seneca Nations, the Turtle Clan within my Seneca nation. I go by RisingBuffalo these days. I grew up with our Seneca people on the Cattaraugus Territory near Buffalo, New York. My Northern Arapaho Tribe is located on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and Colorado is our traditional homeland. As the fairly new Eastern District Supervisory Park Ranger of Interpretation for Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), I am excited to serve where my Arapaho ancestors walked.
Through Indigenous Connections, and in consultation with these nine traditionally associated Indigenous Nations, we are creating a cultural program that includes interpretative training and educational materials for RMNP, Conservancy staff, and other organizations. I am honored to be a part of a team focusing on ways to interpret associated Tribes, include Tribal history and culture in the park, reach out to Native people, and mentor future Indigenous park rangers. Eventually, the program will include dance and art demonstrations. Collaborating with Tribes will allow a more authentic representation of our communities, sharing our stories “in our own words and on our own terms.” Through cultural education and appreciation, we start healing our differences and generational trauma from the past. We are all connected as human beings. Through understanding and learning each other’s culture, we can lift each other up rather than tear each other down.
Through Indigenous Connections, and in consultation with these nine traditionally associated Indigenous Nations, we are creating a cultural program that includes interpretative training and educational materials for RMNP, Conservancy staff, and other organizations. I am honored to be a part of a team focusing on ways to interpret associated Tribes, include Tribal history and culture in the park, reach out to Native people, and mentor future Indigenous park rangers. Eventually, the program will include dance and art demonstrations. Collaborating with Tribes will allow a more authentic representation of our communities, sharing our stories “in our own words and on our own terms.” Through cultural education and appreciation, we start healing our differences and generational trauma from the past. We are all connected as human beings. Through understanding and learning each other’s culture, we can lift each other up rather than tear each other down.
Sandra Huerta
Sandra Huerta, owner of Taharaa Mountain Lodge & Twin Owls Steakhouse
Sandra Huerta is a Colorado native who has lived in Estes Park since 1999, she has been with Twin Owls from the very beginning. Starting as a hostess before shifting her focus and talents toward developing the Steakhouse into the quintessential Colorado wedding and event venue, Taharaa Mountain Lodge. She still slips behind the host stand on occasion, but most of her time is now spent working to ensure that every detail of every wedding, rehearsal dinner, and family reunion is planned to perfection.
With more than fifteen years spent booking and coordinating events for the Steakhouse, Sandra has worked tirelessly to transform Twin Owls into one of Estes’ most desirable locations for events of every kind. Since taking over ownership of the Steakhouse, Sandra has also made the Twin Owls a centerpiece of the community. Working with the First Peoples Festival and with multiple local charities, she has helped to ensure that the Estes Valley continues to be a wonderful place both to work and to live.
Sandra Huerta is a Colorado native who has lived in Estes Park since 1999, she has been with Twin Owls from the very beginning. Starting as a hostess before shifting her focus and talents toward developing the Steakhouse into the quintessential Colorado wedding and event venue, Taharaa Mountain Lodge. She still slips behind the host stand on occasion, but most of her time is now spent working to ensure that every detail of every wedding, rehearsal dinner, and family reunion is planned to perfection.
With more than fifteen years spent booking and coordinating events for the Steakhouse, Sandra has worked tirelessly to transform Twin Owls into one of Estes’ most desirable locations for events of every kind. Since taking over ownership of the Steakhouse, Sandra has also made the Twin Owls a centerpiece of the community. Working with the First Peoples Festival and with multiple local charities, she has helped to ensure that the Estes Valley continues to be a wonderful place both to work and to live.
Andre Dunn
Volunteer Coordinator, André Dunn, was born and raised in Colorado and enjoys traveling as a means to explore the beautifully expansive world that surrounds us. Descending from a deeply mixed ancestry and having been raised around a wide diversity of cultural influences, André has always sought to widen their understanding of identity through their lived experience. After graduating with a B.A. in Environmental Sociology and a minor in Diversity and Inclusion in Natural Resources from Colorado State University in December of 2023, André began a career in the nonprofit sector to effect positive change for historically marginalized communities. Having been taken under the mentorship of lifelong human rights activist and director of ‘Tiyospaye Winyan Maka’, Christinia Eala American Horse, André has approached issues of cultural, nutritional, and educational sovereignty, helping to uplift important community impact projects that benefit Indigenous families across a five state region. The first annual First Peoples Festival this past January was such an encouraging prospect to André that they volunteered very diligently, hoping that their efforts might help to preserve this celebration into the distant future. André has since taken the opportunity to become a youth volunteer coordinator on this planning committee for the second annual event and is most looking forward to the addition of a powwow and dance competition to accompany this already wonderful cultural gathering.
~ Wicosani, André J. Dunn
~ Wicosani, André J. Dunn
Sandi Siegel
Leaving her profession as an Environmental Economist to raise her 3 children enabled Sandi to pursue more of her artistic side. A mother of 3 grown children, her husband Dave and the family moved from Tucson to Colorado in 2012. Sandi is a singer songwriter and international recording artist with two albums(Dancing Home and Dizzying Rain) and one on the way in 2025. A Sanskrit enthusiast, her book “Sanctuary Song a Photo-Poetic Telling of the
Tripurasundari Stotram” was published in 2020. This book is inspired by her devotion to Sanskrit poetry and Hindu philosophy and a lifelong love of fashion which developed into modeling work just before her 6th decade of life. Walking Denver Fashion Week and other projects in fashion provide opportunity for intergenerational and multicultural collaboration, endeavors critical to a healthy society and a great source of joy. Her time in Tucson afforded her the
privilege of learning and participating in some indigenous ceremonies mostly near Pueblo Yaqui and living on the sacred land of the Sonoran desert, her continuing exploration of our first peoples’ lives and art began in earnest.
In 2021 she attended her first SWAIA Indian Market and fashion shows in Santa Fe, an immersion of arts, fashion, music and dance. Last year after attending the inaugural First Peoples Festival in Estes Park, the idea to host our own First Peoples Fashion Show was born. We are planning and excited for this celebration of Indigenous fashion in January 2025. Beyond finding refuge and joy in these work avenues, she is an avid pickleballer, hiker and grateful every day to be surrounded by the exquisite beauty of our Rocky Mountains and our thriving community of diverse people.
Tripurasundari Stotram” was published in 2020. This book is inspired by her devotion to Sanskrit poetry and Hindu philosophy and a lifelong love of fashion which developed into modeling work just before her 6th decade of life. Walking Denver Fashion Week and other projects in fashion provide opportunity for intergenerational and multicultural collaboration, endeavors critical to a healthy society and a great source of joy. Her time in Tucson afforded her the
privilege of learning and participating in some indigenous ceremonies mostly near Pueblo Yaqui and living on the sacred land of the Sonoran desert, her continuing exploration of our first peoples’ lives and art began in earnest.
In 2021 she attended her first SWAIA Indian Market and fashion shows in Santa Fe, an immersion of arts, fashion, music and dance. Last year after attending the inaugural First Peoples Festival in Estes Park, the idea to host our own First Peoples Fashion Show was born. We are planning and excited for this celebration of Indigenous fashion in January 2025. Beyond finding refuge and joy in these work avenues, she is an avid pickleballer, hiker and grateful every day to be surrounded by the exquisite beauty of our Rocky Mountains and our thriving community of diverse people.