PERKINS, Okla. – The television and magazines ads are catchy, Oklahoma, Native America. Pow wow scenes and music with a Native American flair invite tourists to vacation in ‘Native America.’

The only problem, say some Indian tribes in Oklahoma, is that tribes are not seeing any profits coming their way.

Jim Wheeler, administrative officer of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, said, “All the tribes around here are pretty unhappy about that. Like most tribes, we battle with state government all the time. They put Native America on their license plates, and then come after us all the rest of the time. Most of the tribes are real disillusioned about what they see as really just patronizing and taking advantage of the tribes in the state to no financial gain for the tribes.”

With museums and bingo parlors open all over the state, tribes find that in most cases they are the ones who have to advertise if they want to bring tourists and visitors to their areas.

“They absolutely and adamantly refuse to advertise Indian gaming which probably brings more tourists into Oklahoma than anything they’ve got,” Wheeler said.

The Iowa Tribe is located south of Stillwater and operates the Cimarron Bingo Casino with a game room and off-track betting and bingo in Perkins.

“Folks are always welcomed here. Our pow wow is the third weekend in June and it’s a good one with lots of prize money,” Wheeler said.

Kelly Allison, media relations coordinator for the Chickasaw Nation disagrees and believes that the state of Oklahoma’s ads are beneficial to tribes in Oklahoma.

“I haven’t gotten any negative feed back at all.” Allison said.

Allison returned from a February tourism conference raring to go. The strategy for the Chickasaw Nation is aggressive advertising. With tours available through the tribe, throughout the Ada area, there appears to be something for everyone, from trout fishing to tours of Christmas lights.

“We haven’t been as aggressive as I would like to have been in advertising, but we are changing that,” Allison said, adding that the Chickasaw Recreation Area is a definite drawing card.

“We offer several tours, we have the Spirit of the Past Tour, and that is through the antique district. We have the Spirit of Nature Tour. That is a really pretty tour. We have trout fishing or people can hike or they can do whatever they like. We also have the Spirit of Chickasaw tour the first weekend in October; we have a parade, food, craft booths and stomp dancing demonstrations and the Clayburn Straughn Native American Art Show. We also have the Spirit of Christmas Tour,” Allison said. Those interested in taking one of the tours or visiting the area can get in touch with the Chickasaw Tourism office at 1-800-593-3356.

Other Indian nations within the state are beginning to target marketing toward tourist dollars. Museums and festivals can be found almost everywhere in the state which has 39 tribes, but no reservations.

For those who are interested in visiting any of the tribes, the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission has a website that lists the different tribes and gives links, telephone numbers and addresses: http://www.state.ok.us/~oiac/tgo.html.