Mayor Brian Bagley and other Longmont officials on Friday are hoping to relaunch efforts to form a new sister city relationship with the Northern Arapaho in Wyoming that may produce student visits and a sweat lodge at Sandstone Ranch.
A meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Longmont Senior Center between Bagley, city council members and staff and four representatives of the Northern Arapaho Business Council, said Janice Rebhan, president of the Longmont Sister Cities Association.
Bagley said the meeting with the Northern Arapaho of Wind River Reservation will help nurture the deep friendship he has developed over the past two years with the tribe.
"I kind of fell in love with them," Bagley said. "I respect their traditions and culture and religion and they have taught me a great deal, They are my brothers."
Friday's face-to-face meeting is limited to just 10 people, given COVID-19 social distancing requirements, Rebhan said. People can view the session via Webex or by calling 415-655-0003. The meeting number (access code) is 133 959 1659; the password is 2MxJJx9mgb5.
The agenda is likely to cover student exchanges, business opportunities and the placing of a sweat lodge at Sandstone Ranch, Rebhan said.
“There are a lot of commonalities between our two communities and there are some ideas we want to explore in Longmont,” she said.
The Longmont Sister Cities Association celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. Chino, Japan, was Longmont’s first sister city, named in 1991, followed by Mexico’s Cuidad Guzman in 1997. Longmont and the two sister cities have since hosted several student exchanges.
Bagley began talks with the Northern Arapaho in 2018 after studying the plight of native people.
"I thought maybe we could help and the best way we could do that would be become friends and understand each other," said Bagley, who has visited the Wind River reservation several times.
A Longmont delegation in 2018 toured the 2.2 million-acre reservation for three days, Rebhan said. The reservation is located between the Wind River Range and Owl Creek Mountains and encompasses the city of Riverton, Wyoming, according to the tribe’s website.
“We went there to talk about what a relationship would look like and how to build a better relationship between native peoples and Longmont,” Rebhan said.
The Northern Arapaho at one time occupied an area that included Longmont. There are cultural sites in and around Longmont that are important to the tribe, she said.
“All kinds of traditional medicines grow here and many sacred areas including Estes Park,” Rebhand said.
The Treaty of 1868 left the Northern Arapaho without a land base, and the tribe was placed with the Shoshone in west central Wyoming on the Wind River Reservation, according to the tribal website.
The tribe is attracting several industries to the reservation including ecotourism, telecommunications, power generation and oil, gas and mineral development. Central Wyoming College is located in Riverton and the tribe is developing its own Wind River Community College, according to the tribal website.
A formal sister city signing was supposed to take place in April in Longmont but COVID-19 travel restrictions halted the ceremony.
A group of six students from the reservation, along with two chaperones, visited Longmont in June 2019. Sister cities officials opted to keep their visit low-key, Rebhan said.
“We just wanted to check the waters and see how it felt for them,” she said.
