Inaugural games kick off in Browning
<p>Riders gallop during the Indian Relay races at the PRCA rodeo during the Northwest Montana Fair last year.</p>
The International Traditional Games Society will host the first annual Blackfeet Indian Summer Games, a Blackfeet cultural event for the whole family, at Stampede Park in Browning on Thursday, Sept. 25, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Horse competitors from the region will participate in traditional horse games, including Indian Relay, Night Shirt Race, Horse Hoop and Spear, and others. Area artists and vendors will showcase and sell artwork and novelties.
The event will take place during Native American Week, when Days of the Blackfeet and American Indian Heritage Days are celebrated with various cultural events and demonstrations across the reservation.
Informational horse history clinics will run from 10 a.m. to noon in the stampede arena, followed by horse relay events from 1 to 4 p.m.
The public is welcomed to observe traditional Dog Day Games like Shinney, Single Pole Lacrosse and Hand Game played by area middle school students from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the Pow Wow Grounds, both outside and inside the Stick Game Building.
The cost is $5 per person, free for kids 3-and-under. For more information, visit online at www.traditionalnativegames.org or call 406-226-9141
The International Traditional Games Society was founded in 1998 by tribal college presidents and cultural directors from Montana and Southern Alberta. It is dedicated to the recovery and restoration of traditional Native American Indian games.