Billings' first Fair with Crow riders in parade

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DescriptionThe first Yellowstone County Fair was in 1892. According to Jessie or Lulu Railsback (from an 1897 copy of a student paper at the Western Heritage Center), in 1897, 'The presence of over one thousand Crow Indians furnished an interesting attraction.' Railsback continues, 'Each day the Indians headed by the Indian Boy Band from St. Xavier Mission paraded principal streets of the city ...' The Crow had a significant presence in the first July 4th celebrations in Billings and the early Billings Fairs. The Billings and Yellowstone County Illustrated, 1894, Billings Gazette reported in 1894, 'The aborigines move their belongings, pony herds, dogs, squaws, and papooses, and entire camp equipage, from the reservation to the vicinity of the fairgrounds every year and go into camp. The Crows have many good horses and ponies and every day of the meeting they are given opportunities to race in their own uncouth manner, besides foot races and hurdle races in which only the Indians are permitted to join. Each year they have a big dance in camp and the monotonous boom-boom of the tom toms is heard all night.' The 'Crow Indian Fair' augmented by the Indian agent at Crow Agency, began in 1904, and the annual Crow Fair also followed the Crow traditions of annual gatherings - after this the Crow participation drops off.TypeImageCreatorUnknownGenrephotographsDateCirca 1890SubjectFairs--1890-1900Crow IndiansContributing InstitutionBillings Public LibraryGeographic CoverageBillings, MontanaDigital CollectionBillings - Images of PlacesDigital Formatimage/jpgDigitization SpecificationEpson 1640 XL scanner. 8 x 10 image at 300 dpi, 8 bit greyscale. Master Image size - 18,000 kb.Date Digitized2015copyrightNoC-US

CollectionBillings - Images of Places

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Billings' first Fair with Crow riders in parade

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Billings' first Fair with Crow riders in parade

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