SALT LAKE CITY — A man who is based in the Utah portion of the Navajo Nation is trying to give new life to the Navajo language and culture through a kid's TV show that uses puppets.

Pete Sands says that during the pandemic, he had the opportunity to travel to homes on the reservation and realized a large disparity between the older and younger generations.

"We started knowing the disparities between the older generation, the elder generation and the younger generation - they had no communication," Sands explained.

"The younger folks didn't know, they don't speak the language. They don't understand it."

Sands knew that he had to find a solution to keep his culture and language alive and teach it to the rising generation in a fun way.

In the early months of 2021, he saw with his own eyes how a teacher used a puppet to teach young children in her classroom and a light bulb went off.

"It was this an epiphany (...) I had seen this one thing where a teacher got the attention of children with a puppet," Sands said.

"Maybe I can create a puppet show where we teach a Navajo language and that's where it started."

Sands used his contacts in the film industry to help connect him to a puppet maker based in Los Angeles.

After sketching his vision for what he wanted the puppets to look like, Sadie, Ash, Grandma Sally and Uncle Al were born.

Gofundme

The four puppets, who were made with Navajo features, are meant to bridge the gap between the older and younger generations and are the main characters in the TV show, "Navajo Highways."

Sands recruited some help from a teacher who created a language program to teach Navajo.

The teacher is the host of the show and also voices the grandma puppet.

There are plans to film ten episodes and each episode will have a specific theme.

The first episode will focus on introduction and learning about the Navajo culture.

"Navajos had complex, complicated classes and it breaks it down to just really simple," Sands explained.

"Instead of making it so complicated, we break it down simple where people can understand it."

The show will also focus on unity between native Navajo people and others in the community.

"I think it's important not just to show specifically just native Navajo people, as to show them interacting with people outside the reservation and really bring everything together to show unity," Sands said.

"Just to help them expand beyond what they know...it's okay to be different."

Unlike English, the Navajo language is mainly phonetic, which can be a challenge when trying to teach it to others.

Sands is hoping that by teaching with puppets, it will make challenging lessons more fun to learn and kids will be able to retain the information more easily.

"[Enlgish and Navajo are] intertwined [in the show] because the little kids are learning to speak it in the show," Sands said.

"So that's how the audience grows with them - with the kids. They learn how to speak it."

As Sands and his team work on creating and filming episodes, they're looking for funding for the project.

A Gofundme page has been set up to collect donations.

Sands hopes that when the episodes are completed, he'll be able to put them on a platform that is free for everyone to watch.

"This is special, this is this is something way outside the box," he said.

"They see hope that this can really work. And I really think it can work. I mean, it's never been done before.

Sands says they've been chosen to do a few live shows on the reservation and in Arizona.

This year, they will potentially travel to Los Angeles for a live show.

He says the more that people see the special puppets and their potential to teach kids, the more they want them to come and participate in their own communities.

This story was first reported by Melanie Porter at KSTU in Salt Lake City.

FORT WINGATE, N.M. —

It's rare to hear there's a whole town for sale, but that's what's happening at Fort Wingate, New Mexico.

Over the years, Fort Wingate has seen people come and go. The Bear Springs Plaza there is now completely empty. This comes as the town has been put up for sale with a price tag of $11 million.

What comes with it? Eighteen acres of real estate, including a convenience store, gas station and café.

But inside the café is empty, yet full of welcoming characters like birds, a rabbit, a coin-operated elephant, even a koi pond and waterfall.

On the walls are traces of history at every glance.

The old military base of Fort Wingate is across the street from the town, it is not part of the sale, it is abandoned and locked up.

"There were actually two Fort Wingates," said Rob Martinez, New Mexico state historian.

The original Fort Wingate was near San Rafael, New Mexico.

"What's significant, in the 1860s is that this is where Kit Carson and the U.S. military are headquartered and they round up Navajo people to March them on 'The Long Walk,'" Martinez said.

This was a 300-mile walk from Fort Wingate to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico.

Nine thousand Navajo men, women and children were forced to walk and kept there for three years before being returned, this time to a new Fort Wingate, where the people were processed.

For years it served as a military base and eventually became an Indian Boarding School.

"It was a terrible experiment, a disaster, really, attempting to assimilate the Navajo people, force them to become culturally American," Martinez said.

The town has been in the owner's family since the 1940s. He grew up here and now maintains most of the town on his own.

The owner did not want to do an on-camera interview but did give sister station KOAT a tour of the café. He did not want to be on camera but did give me a tour.

Fort Wingate has 27 homes that are 100% occupied. Many of the people who live there have been there for decades.

The owner said he wants to sell to someone that will allow these people to stay. Everything inside the café including historical items is part of the sale.

"I would hope that we remember the legacy of Fort Wingate," Martinez said. "The long walk, Kit Carson and the U.S. military forcing Navajo people into a horrendous situation, and the military purposes Fort Wingate served throughout the decades."

Watch the video above to learn more about this story.