The Teen Girls Fancy Shawl Dance at the 22rd annual Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival in Oklahoma was held in honor of a Kiowa teen who died last year in a flash flood.

Rose Saddleblanket, 17, and her family were returning from a powwow in August when the flood hit. Saddleblanket, a niece of Kiowa Tribe Chairman Billy Evans Horse, was killed, along with her aunt Dorita Horse, 77, and cousin Helen Rae Horse, 37.

"When Rose passed away, I knew I wanted to find some way to keep her memory alive," Cindy Banta, a friend of the family and an organizer of the dance, told The Oklahoman.

The Red Earth festival took place Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Oklahoma City.

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Red Earth dance to help keep memory of Anadarko teen alive (The Oklahoman 6/8)
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Now in its 22nd year, festival has nurtured friendships (The Oklahoman 6/7)

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