One team hides two marked bones in their hands, and the other team has to guess where they are. A correct guess sends a bone to the guessing side. Play keeps going until one team holds all of them. That is the hand game as described by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, and it sits at the center of Worley's busiest public week of the year.
From November 13 through November 21, 2026, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel have scheduled a veterans stick game tournament, a ticketed concert, a free Native American Heritage Month evening and a pow wow, one after another. Most of it costs nothing to attend. The tournament that opens the week is offering more prize money than it did last year.
Where the Week Really Starts
The first date comes three weeks early. On Sunday, October 25, from 1 to 7 p.m., the casino is holding a Make Your Own Stickgame Set workshop led by artist Shady Cree. The cost is $75.
The workshop makes more sense once you know what goes into a set. In the form the Smithsonian describes, the game works like this:
- One side conceals two marked bones in players' hands.
- The opposing side guesses where the bones are.
- A bone that gets found moves to the other team.
- The game ends when one side has won them all.
That is one version. The University of Wisconsin–La Crosse's Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center notes that games like this differ from one community and region to the next, in their rules and in their materials.
A Tournament That Keeps Growing
The Honoring Our Veterans Stickgame Tournament runs November 13 through 15 at the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel. The casino's listing says it is "free for the public to watch."
The tournament has been around a while. A 2017 casino announcement described a veterans stick game tournament held November 10 through 12 that year, open to anyone who wanted to play or watch. The most recent change is in the purse, from 2025 to 2026.
| 2025 tournament | 2026 tournament | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | November 14–16 | November 13–15 |
| Total payouts | $39,000 | $49,000 |
| First place, main tournament | $15,000 | $17,000 |
| Teams registered | 169 | Not yet reported |
The 2026 main tournament pays $12,000 for second place, $7,000 for third and $4,500 for fourth. Total payouts are up $10,000 from 2025, about a 25 percent increase in a single year.
The Tribe's newspaper, Council Fires, reported that last year's tournament brought in hundreds of players, families and community members. The weekend opened Friday with vendor check-ins and open games. Saturday started with breakfast in the Event Center from 10 a.m. to noon. Next came the Traditional Material Game, in which a Colville Tribal veteran played a Coeur d'Alene Tribal veteran. The 2026 listing doesn't give a day-by-day schedule, so last year's order is a guide only.
Three Quiet Days, Then Three Full Ones
Nothing public is listed between the tournament's last day on Sunday the 15th and Thursday the 19th. After that, the calendar fills up:
- Thursday, November 19. A Night with Isaac Tonasket starts at 7 p.m. This show is ticketed. The White Horse Pow Wow also begins that day, according to its calendar listing.
- Friday, November 20. The free Winter Blessing runs from 6 to 8 p.m. in the casino's upstairs conference area. The pow wow continues.
- Saturday, November 21. The pow wow's listed final day.
Tonasket plays both nights, and it's easy to mix the two up. Thursday is his own paid concert. On Friday he performs as part of the free Winter Blessing program. Someone who only wants to hear him can do that on Friday at no cost.
The casino describes Tonasket as a singer-songwriter and motivational speaker. He is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and a descendant of the Spokane Tribe. When the casino published its event page, his 2023 song "Boys Don't Cry" had more than four million views.
Winter Blessing, Hour by Hour
The Winter Blessing is listed as a Native American Heritage Month event, free and open to all ages. The casino posted this schedule:
- 5:30 p.m. Doors open
- 6:00 p.m. Welcome by Yvette Matt
- 6:05 p.m. Welcome from Steven's Media Group
- 6:15 p.m. Eagle performance by Michael Roberts
- 7:00 p.m. Isaac Tonasket concert
- 8:00 p.m. Huckleberry jam and fry bread
Champion dancer Jonathon Nomee is also listed for a special appearance. The fry bread with huckleberry jam is free.
Since the pow wow is running the same weekend, Friday is the day you could attend two traditional events in one evening. Whether you can do both depends on the pow wow's own schedule and location, and those details are less settled than the casino's.
The Pow Wow, and What Hasn't Been Confirmed
The White Horse Pow Wow appears on the third-party Pow Wow Calendar for November 19 through 21, 2026, at 243935 US-95 in Worley. The listing calls it a traditional, non-monetary giveaway pow wow that welcomes everyone. Silent Hill is the host drum, with Head Man Nathan Fulton and Head Woman Antoinette Peters of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. It also mentions special dance categories, a family night and activities for the community's youngest members.
The listing gives an address but doesn't name a building. We haven't found an official 2026 listing from the Tribe or the casino. Last year, Council Fires reported that the White Horse Powwow was held at the Marimn Health Coeur Center in Worley, November 21 through 23. That tells you where it was held in 2025. It doesn't confirm the 2026 venue. The calendar page also tells readers to check details before traveling, and with a venue still unnamed, that advice is worth taking.
The 2025 dates give some useful context, though. Last year the pow wow started a week after the veterans tournament began. This year, the Pow Wow Calendar puts it on the same Thursday and Friday as both Tonasket appearances. If those dates hold, three events will share two nights in November 2026.
Getting There After Dark
By November 19, it's fully dark well before the evening programs start, and most people will be driving US-95. In a Worley Highway District update recorded in the September 2026 meeting packet of the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization, the district reported that groundwork and electrical work were finished on the Compton Road/US-95 lighting project, which it is doing with the Idaho Transportation Department. Installation of the light poles had been pushed to mid-October because of backorders, according to the KMPO meeting packet. If the poles go in on that timeline, the intersection would be lit before the week begins.
If you want dinner before the Winter Blessing, the casino's Chinook restaurant added a dry-aged steak program this year. The Coeur d'Alene Press reported in April 2026 that beef ages at least three weeks in an on-site unit before it's finished over fire.
The casino's calendar is a live listing, and its concert page says more shows may be added. Every date above is as listed on October 11, 2026.
If you own property near Worley, or you have family thinking about moving closer to the Reservation communities along US-95, Mia Suchoski at Timber Realty can help with questions about land, access and how a particular stretch of road works through the year. Let's Connect.
