BILLINGS — Dancing, drumming and elaborate beadwork is all on full display in Crow Agency this August, but not without a lot of planning and effort from a lot of people.
It’s a chorus of hammers across the campground as some 1,500 teepees are set up for Crow Fair 2024.
Thousands of Crow tribal members are setting up camp for the week in a traditional teepee shelter with poles cut from the national forest.
Some shelters have custom doors and finishing touches to signify each Apsaalooke family.
“What we are doing, is we're rebuilding. Out with the old and in with the new. We're putting up a new camp. The old ones are over there and as the years went by, it just started tilting because of the weather,” says John Caplett, Crow tribal member.
Caplett has been attending Crow Fair since he was a child. This event is a part of his identity, and that’s true for many of the 20,000 plus attendees who set up camp here ever year.
“Every year we’ve got relatives, friends that show up, visit us out of nowhere. People from all over the country show up at this one event. It's fun. Every year basically it's the brand new year, new year for everyone, like how you got December 31st and the 1st, it's a new year for us. This is it," explains Caplett.
Most know Crow Fair as the teepee capital of the world, but there’s more here than what initially meets the eye.
Daily parades showcase Crow culture via ornate, family beadwork.
Also on daily display is traditional dancing in full regalia, drawing Native American contestants from all across North America.
“We have dance categories, we have veterans, we have tiny tots, we pay out everybody. We’re at our goal: $140,000,” says Brinna Melendrez, Crow Fair general manager.
They are competing for big prize packages, both monetary and memorabilia like trophy jackets designed by Crow fashion brands like Brocade and Choke Cherry Creek.
From designers to dancers of all ages, Crow Fair is a chance to get back to native roots, to visit and eat meals with relatives and friends under hand-built cottonwood shade shelters.
“It's a tradition everyone does,” says Caplett. “At night, man, it's awesome.”
A setting perfect for authentic Indian tacos, tales of the past and teepees as far as the eye can see. All of this, every single year the 3rd week in August.
