22-year-old Pinon woman crowned as new Miss Navajo Nation

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — Niagara Rockbridge has been crowned as Miss Navajo Nation. A virtual coronation ceremony was held Saturday at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock. The weeklong pageant included a sheep butchering contest, interviews and a traditional and contemporary skills talent competition. Rockbridge is from Pinon. The 22-year-old succeeds Shaandiin Parrish, who served an unprecedented two-year term as Miss Navajo Nation as the 2020 pageant was canceled because of the pandemic. Tribal officials say the role of Miss Navajo Nation is to be an ambassador of the largest sovereign nation in the U.S. The tribe’s reservation is the country’s largest at 27,000 square miles. It covers parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.