Tensions escalate between vendors, Parks & Rec
Navajo Times | Krista Allen A man looks at the camera from a kiosk on a Thursday afternoon, June 1, 2017, at the Little Colorado River Overlook, where a number of booths are occupied by vendors who sell Navajo arts and crafts.
Navajo Times | Krista Allen
A number of vendors who sell Navajo arts and crafts occupy the kiosks at The Little Colorado River Overlook, located 10 miles northwest of Cameron, Arizona. The Overlook area runs by donations and sees up to 400 visitors per day.
LITTLE COLORADO RIVER GORGE
An escalating feud between a Navajo Parks and Recreation program supervisor and the president of a local vendor association has boiled over, with the tribal agency on the point of evicting the vendor.
Helen Webster, program supervisor for Navajo Parks’ Little Colorado River Tribal Park, says Jacqueline Huskie, president of the Little Colorado River-Cameron Vendors Association, is picking a fight with her over business hours and other concerns.
Navajo Times | Krista Allen
A man looks at the camera from a kiosk on a Thursday afternoon at the Little Colorado River Overlook, where a number of booths are occupied by vendors who sell Navajo arts and crafts.
Now, Webster is considering ousting Huskie, who, along with other vendors, sells Navajo arts and crafts at the LCR Overlook located 10 miles northwest of Cameron, Arizona.
Depending upon whom you believe, this is either a conflict between the community of Cameron and Navajo Parks (according to Huskie) or one person who is making a fuss (according to Webster).
“We just want collaboration with Navajo Parks,” Huskie said on behalf of the LCR-Cameron Vendors Association, “understanding, and extended seasonal hours.”
Huskie said she, along with members of the vendors association, has written letters to Webster requesting extended business hours at the LCR Overlook during the tourist season.
“(The hours) are not working for other vendors because we do business there,” Huskie said. “We are vendors and we are here to sell the stuff that we make.”
Currently, the LCR Tribal Park is open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. These hours come after Webster issued a May 2 memorandum concerning a time change that went into effect on May 7.
The memorandum stated that all park vendors must pack up their arts and crafts at least 45 minutes to closing time.
“All vendors need to be packed out by 7 p.m. All vendors will need to start packing their arts and crafts, pottery, bead work and sterling sliver jewelry as early as possible, at least 45 minutes prior to closing the gates,” the memo reads. “This is due to sun setting later than usual. Gates will be closed at 7 p.m.”
Webster says she extended the hours for the vendors about five years ago, but the additional hours did not satisfy them.
The money the vendors association makes, Huskie says, helps people in need throughout the Navajo Nation and supports the members of the association and their families.
“Our businesses have dropped down,” Huskie explained. “We want collaboration, and for (Webster) to understand that we need the hours and for the fence to be (reinstalled).”
A fence that had routed visitors through the vendor stalls was recently removed, allowing tourists to access the overlook without walking past the arts and crafts.
To read the full article, pick up your copy of the Navajo Times at your nearest newsstand Thursday mornings!
Are you a digital subscriber? Read the most recent three weeks of stories by logging in to your online account.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow