September 25th
International Traditional Games Society (ITGS) hosts the First Annual Blackfeet Indian Summer Games at Stampede Park in Browning, Montana. Informational horse history clinics will run from 10am to noon in the stampede arena, followed by horse relay events from 1pm to 4pm. The cost is $5 per person (free for kids 3 and under). ITGS also welcomes the public to observe traditional Dog Day Games like Shinney, Single Pole Lacrosse, and Hand Game played by area middle school students from 10am to 2:30pm on the Pow Wow Grounds, both outside and inside the Stick Game Building.
The event occurs during the course of Native American Week, when Days of the Blackfeet and American Indian Heritage Days are celebrated with various cultural events and demonstrations reservation-wide.
Blackfeet Indian Summer Games 2014 includes a round-up of area horse competitors
who will participate in traditional horse games including Indian Relay, Night Shirt Race, Horse Hoop & Spear and others, in a spectacular display of traditional horse culture that draws Calgary Stampede committee members as honored guests and spectators looking to add traditional Native American horse games into their annual event in nearby Calgary, Alberta. The massive, ten-day rodeo festival draws over 1 million visitors each July and boasts to be "the greatest outdoor show on earth.”
The Blackfeet Indian Summer Games is an event you don't want to miss! Traditional Native games have great historical significance here in Montana, and it is a joy to see the communities come together to enjoy them.