CROW AGENCY — Every year in the middle of August, the heart of the Apsáalooke Nation beats a little louder.
The 106th annual Crow Fair, known as the “Teepee Capital of the World," transformed the small community of Crow Agency into the largest Native American encampment in the country, with over 1,000 teepees set up for a week-long celebration of tradition and culture.
Watch thousands gather for the 106th Crow Fair festivities:
Now operating as a nonprofit, the fair marks a new year for the Crow people and signifies a time to return home and reunite with loved ones.
“I've been coming to Crow Fair for 40 years. Since I was born, my parents would bring me," said dancer Terry Cummins. "Our Crow Fair is for New Year's, our Crow New Year's. We would celebrate with family and friends.”
From Aug. 13–19, families and friends camp together on the grounds, with public events running from Aug. 15–17. The fair includes daily weekend parades, powwows with youth and adult dance competitions, and a rodeo.
At the center of it all is the Crow Fair Powwow Grounds, where dancers from across the region gather to perform in both Crow and other tribal styles, many competing for awards, prize money, and recognition.
For Cummins, dancing is a way of life. She hopes not only to pass down the steps, but the spirit, to the next generation.
“I love the feeling out there and dancing because I always say that was my first love," said Cummins. "It's giving my children inspiration to go out there. We get really excited when we hear that drum going.”
That drumbeat calls thousands of spectators each year, both from across the country and the world, to witness the event.
Princess Asencio, who has attended the fair for four years and is originally from Seattle, Wash., said Crow Fair has helped her reconnect to her cultural identity after growing up far from her tribal homelands.
“I just started dancing traditional, so I always get nervous sometimes to go out there, but I always feel so welcome, and I always feel like I'm seen here," said Asencio. “I've been dancing ever since I was a tiny tot, but I recently just got into dancing, crow style traditional, just the last two years, so that's been a journey for me.”
Asencio said that each trip to the fair brings new connections and family members on her mother's side, whom she never knew she had.
“I'm always constantly meeting new family members that I never met," said Asencio. “My mom used to dance when she was younger, and she hasn't danced, so I've been wearing her regalia, actually.”
The celebration offers an opportunity for more than 80 vendors and artisans to display and sell handmade crafts, beadwork, art, and traditional and contemporary foods.
Among them are Tiffany Quiles Rivera and her partner Alex Jalapa, who are Florida-based artists originally from Puerto Rico and Guatemala. The couple has spent two months traveling the powwow circuit with their spray paint art.
“We like native art. It's something really unique you don't see every day," said Rivera. "We used the technique of the natives and we incorporated it to the art, but maintaining something ours, unique.”
Coming to Montana for the first time, they said the fair helps inspire them and bridge cultural gaps.
“They inspire me and give me a lot of ideas," Jalapa said in Spanish. "And sharing with them is something really nice because we learn from their culture. The powwows are really different, but the spirituality is the same.”
That spirit of sharing and cultural exchanges makes Crow Fair special, and for those who make the journey, it is a powerful reminder of the native heritage that still lives on.
“Crow style dancing has dated back for probably centuries now in our tribe. One of the ones that really stands out there in Indian Country is the Crow Hop, and that signifies us as a dance that we're well known for," said Cummins. "We love to continue that on and share it with other tribes so they can inspire themselves to keep their own dance."
“This is something really nice and unique that people should at least once in a lifetime come to Montana and see this,” said Rivera.
The Crow Fair festivities continue through Sunday. For more information, click here.
