HV096- Crow Fair I

Hearing Voices from NPR®
096 Crow Fair I: Gathering the Tribes
Host: Scott Simon of NPR
Airs week of: 2011-08-10 (Originally: 2010-08-18)

“Crow Fair I” (52:00 mp3):

A century ago the six Crow Reservation Districts came together for a cultural gathering with other Great Plains tribes. Every third weekend of August the Crow Fair honors that tradition in a “giant family reunion under the Big Sky.” Five days of celebration in southeastern Montana, with a parade, Pow Wow, rodeo, and traditional and fancy dancing.

In 1977 a team of NPR producers and recordists spent a week collecting sounds and interviewing people at this annual event. This early ambient sound-portrait breathes with the arts and activities of the Crow people: the Apsaalooke Nation.

This is part one of a two-hour radio special which ran originally on NPR Folk Festival USA. Producer: Steve Rathe. Interviewers: Scott Simon, Frank Ray Harjo. Mix: David Rapkin. Engineering Supervisor: Jim McEachern. Recordists: David Harris, Ralph Woods. Thanks: Willy Stewart & the Crow Fair Board and the Crow Tribe for their hospitality. For the final hour, listen to part one: HV097- Crow Fair II.

Crow Fair Gallery

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

© Donnie Sexton, Montana Office of Tourism

Crow Man preparing, for sham battle, 1912, Crow Agency, MT; © Elsa Spear Byron, Museum of the Rockies

Sundance, Black Lodge District, 1951, Crow Reservation, MT; © Elsa Spear Byron, Museum of the Rockies

The Parade, Crow Fair, 1924, Lodgegrass, MT; © Elsa Spear Byron, Museum of the Rockies

Crow woman, 1924, Crow Agency, MT; © Elsa Spear Byron, Museum of the Rockies

Myrtle Pretty Coups, 1924, Lodgegrass, MT; © Elsa Spear Byron, Museum of the Rockies

Margaret Yellowtail, 1936, Crow Reservation, MT; © Elsa Spear Byron, Museum of the Rockies

Brady Locks, Little Wolf, Black Crane, and Big Beaver, ca. 1926, Crow Agency, MT; © Elsa Spear Byron, Museum of the Rockies

Medicine Wheel, 1932, Big Horn Mountains, WY; © Elsa Spear Byron, Museum of the Rockies

Crow Fair, ca. 1926, Crow Agency, MT; © Elsa Spear Byron, Museum of the Rockies