When to Go to Northeast Arizona

Festivals and Events

Central Navajo Fair. Several horse races, an arts-and-crafts market, the Miss Central Navajo Pageant, and several live-music performances are part of this weeklong celebration held in Chinle in late August. 928/797-7793. www.navajopeople.org.

September

Suminangwa Harvest Festival. This celebration, which features Harvest and Butterfly social dances, is typically held the third weekend of September in the village of Sichomovi, between First Mesa and Second Mesa. 928/737-2754.

Navajo Nation Annual Tribal Fair. The world's largest Native American fair includes a rodeo, traditional Navajo music and dances, food booths and fry bread competitions, a Miss Navajo Nation Pageant, and an intertribal powwow during the first week of September after Labor Day, at Window Rock. 928/871-6478. www.navajonationfair.com.

Monument Valley Balloon Event. Initiated in 2010, this well-attended, mid-January, three-day weekend of hot-air ballooning at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park includes concerts, a family fun walk, a balloon "night glow" over the small airport at Goulding's Lodge, and a launch of more than 20 colorful balloons each morning. 435/727-5870. navajonationparks.org/htm/MVBallonEvent.html.