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They stood and they waited. All of the hard work, all of the cheers and the tears had boiled down to this moment:  Who would win Indian Days? The Onondaga and the Seneca remained standing in front of the “White People.” The other tribes had been excused, relegated to third, fourth and fifth place.
“And the winner of the 2008 Great Indian Games is”.... (silence... pause... tension... pause)... “The Seneca!”
“This is Amazing,” said Seneca Chief Jason Veitch. “It’s why I stayed in Senior (section) rather than ADV; I thought we were going to do some good this year.” Veteran camper Taylor Chien added, “I’m very happy for my Chief and Sachem (Alicia Maravall).”
The closing council fire, held indoors due to the persistent rain that fell throughout Indian Days, marked the end of an emotional summer-long struggle. It wasn’t until the final 24 hours that the winning Seneca made their move. “The Tug-of-War was our spark,” mention Seneca Andrew Gonzalez, when asked what the turning point was.”
As runners up, the member of the Onondaga, who led for so much of Indian Days, took things in stride. “I’m happy for the Seneca.” said Sachem Dorothy Farrell, “I knew this was their year.” The Seneca had not won Indian Games since 2002. Meantime, Onondaga Chief Xavier Robles said, “We felt it slipping away and, by the end, we thought we’d be in third. So I’m kind of happy about second.”
As usual, the final day of Indian Games dealt up some emotion, and some surprises....
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