On Saturday, Feb. 23, the Yavapai-Apache Nation will remember one of the most pivotal events in the history of the two peoples that make up the modern-day tribal nation. It’s the 26th annual Exodus-Return Commemoration, a day marked with solemn ceremony, speeches, food and dance.

“The event commemorates the forced removal of the Yavapai and Apache people from their homeland in 1875 and the subsequent return of approximately 200 tribal members to their homeland beginning in the early 1900s,” said Fran Chavez, announcing the event as public relations manager for the Nation.

The forced removal of the Yavapai and Apaches, a.k.a. the Wipuhk’a’bah and Dil’zhe’e, from the area by the U.S. Army in 1875 created severe repercussions for people who had called the Verde Valley home for countless years.

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Feb. 20, edition of The Camp Verde Journal or the Cottonwood Journal Extra.