Devna Bose / The Meridian StarNalani Thompson, 11, focuses on her beadwork during the 69th Annual Choctaw Indian Fair on Thursday.  Beadwork is a longstanding cultural tradition for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.    

CHOCTAW — On the outskirts of the midway at the Choctaw Indian Fair, several dozen people gathered under a pavilion, relaxing in fold-up chairs with their hands deftly spinning thread and needles in and out of beads.

Beadwork is the bread and butter of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, and selling the colorful designs has been a longstanding tradition at the annual fair, which started its 69th run on Wednesday.

Tennessee native Shelly Bell, 50, is a fair regular. On Thursday afternoon, she directed her 9-year-old granddaughter Memory, who sat beside her threading a needle between thin sparkly beads in a diagonal pattern.

“It’s just tradition,” Bell said, referring to both the fair and beadwork. “I’ve been coming to the fair all my life, and I’ve been doing beadwork all my life.”

After Bell complained of being bored as a child, her mother taught her how to create beaded jewelry.

“She said, ‘Here, make something.’ I said, ‘I don’t know how,’” Bell remembered with a laugh. “She said, ‘Well, you can learn now.’ I’ve been doing it ever since.”

All of Bell’s sisters bead, as well as her nieces. She figured it was time to pass on the tradition to her granddaughter.

“Beadwork is fun,” Memory said. “The easiest stuff is bracelets and necklaces and rings. I like to wear it when I’m done.”

Bell is grateful that the fair continues to thrive, allowing Choctaw traditions like beadwork to be celebrated and remembered.

“I’m happy it’s still going. Kids need to know and go and experience everything that we are, that we do,” she said. “We’re still here, and we’re still alive. We need to keep the traditions alive.”

A few feet away, mother-daughter duo Kelli Jones, 32, and Nalani Thompson, 11, sat side-by-side, both zoned in on their beadwork.

“Well, let’s see… I’m 32, so I’ve been coming to the fair for 32 years,” Jones said. “And I’ve been doing beadwork for probably 20.”

When she was younger, she said that she learned how to do some simple beadwork while attending local Tribal schools. However, Jones quickly decided that she wanted to learn more, so she asked her mother to teach her.

“My mother is a pro at beadwork. I wanted to learn some of the more difficult beadwork that she could do,” she said.

Though Jones recognized it’s important to do beadwork to remember the Choctaw culture, she realized later after she had children that she was especially grateful to have the skill.

“At the time, I didn’t think about having kids and teaching them,” she said. “Now, I’m teaching her.”

Thompson wanted to learn more complex beadwork, similarly to her mother, after seeing beadwork she described as “beautiful” in school.

“It makes me feel closer to my mom, and I think it’s important for kids my age to learn how to do it,” she said. “We all have to keep expressing ourselves through who we are and beadwork.”

Devna Bose, a student at the University of Mississippi, is interning with The Meridian Star this summer.