Six-year-old Shoshone tribal member Ethanial Austin Brown of the Wind River Indian Reservation performed at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year as a fancy feather dancer with his grandfather George Abeyta.
His performance made the highlight reel for the parade, and his grandfather could not be more proud of “Baby E,” as Brown is known as on the powwow circuit.
“He danced hard on the on the asphalt for 2-and-a-half miles,” Abeyta said. “He just stopped and danced his little heart out up to 30 times along the route.”
The pair had been invited this year by Native Pride Productions to perform in New York City over the Thanksgiving holiday.
It is Abeyta’s second time to be in the Macy’s parade and he said the experience was very positive.
All the dancers received a warm welcome by New Yorkers.
“It's pretty awesome,” Abeyta said. “There's an electricity in the air that you don't experience too often, especially when there's people jam packed on both sides of the street.”
Usually, Abeyta dances with his family as the Chief Washakie Descendant dancers or with others outside his immediate family as the Eagle Spirit Dancers.
With these two groups, he performs all across the nation, showcasing his Shoshone culture.
This performance, however, was coordinated by Larry Yazzie of Native Pride Productions.
“Larry is my powwow brother and we invite each other to perform when we can,” Abeyta said. “He had a select crew of nine dancers from all over the United States and Canada, that he invited just to represent a nice variety of dance styles and categories as well as age groups.”
Among the dancing featured were fancy feather dancing, jingle sancing and grass dancing.
George Abeyta and his 6-year-old grandson Ethanial Brown (aka Baby E) from Wyoming's Wind River Indian Reservation showcased their Shoshone heritage at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Thursday. (Courtesy George Abeyta) 
George Abeyta and his 6-year-old grandson Ethanial Brown (aka Baby E) from Wyoming's Wind River Indian Reservation showcased their Shoshone heritage at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Thursday. (Native Pride Productions) 
The theme at the 2025 Macy’s Thanksgiving parade was “Generational” and so George Abeyta and grandson, Ethanial Brown, were invited to perform during the parade and at the grand finale. Brown, known as “Baby E” on the pow wow circuit, is a seventh-generation dancer from the Shoshone tribe on the Wind River Indian Reservation. (Courtesy George Abeyta) 
George Abeyta and his 6-year-old grandson Ethanial Brown (aka Baby E) from Wyoming's Wind River Indian Reservation showcased their Shoshone heritage at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York on Thursday. (Walking Alice via YouTube)
The New York Parade
Yazzie, Abeyta and Brown are all fancy feather dancers. At 6-years-old, “Baby E” is already showing promise of being a champion.
“He’s way better than I was at that age and he's just quick on his feet,” Abeyta said. “He knows how to lift his knee and how to jump down on the downbeats.
"He throws his stick high in the air and he catches it. And he's only a young buck.”
Brown was supposed to stay with the main group during the parade but is already showing an independent spirit that his grandfather admires.
“It’s pretty cool because he does his own thing,” Abeyta said. “He lagged far behind because he would go and high-five everyone in the crowd.”
Brown was throwing up his stick and Abeyta said that the people were hollering and cheering for the young dancer.
“He was getting a lot of good energy from that,” Abeyta said. “It was quite a trek and at the end was our performance, so he was really stiff and tired at the grand finale.”
Abeyta said that despite how tired they all were, Brown put on a good performance for the New York crowd and his grandparents were proud of him.
Generational Theme
Abeyta said that the theme of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year was “generational,” which was one of the reasons the dancers were invited to participate.
They were asked to showcase the generations of dancers, and that is why Brown was invited to dance alongside his grandfather.
“My grandson is a seventh-generation dancer,” Abeyta said. “Chief Washakie performed for the U.S. Army.”
Dancing has been handed down through the generations in Abeyta’s family.
He is a direct descendant of Chief Washakie and named after Chief Washakie’s son, George.
His wife Josie was in the Tim McCoy movie “Iron Horse” when it was filmed on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
“Grandma Josie had my Grandma Marie who, since she was of the lineage of a chief, had the right to wear a war bonnet back in the day,” Abeyta said. “The war bonnet dance is a ceremonial dance that showcases and gives thanks and gratitude for our leaders.”
Eudora Teton, Abeyta’s mother, participated in the Miss USA pageant and was voted Miss Congeniality for her presentation of traditional song and dance.
“My mom encouraged me to dance,” Abeyta said. “I've traveled throughout the United States and Canada, and I love to dance.”
He has passed on this passion to his children including his daughter who was a champion fancy dancer.
It is her son, Brown, who is now following in his ancestor’s footsteps as a powwow dancer.
“Believe it or not, there's a lot of people out there that don't even know we still exist,” Abeyta said. “Performing in this parade is a good chance to just remind them that we're still here and we're still thriving.
"That we're still a strong, proud, beautiful nation.”
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
