NEAR ULM — First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park hosted the eighth annual Buffalo Kite Festival on Saturday. The festival is free and will run from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday, too.
Visitors learned about the buffalo art featured on the kites, and have an opportunity create their own kite and watch as it takes flight over the buffalo jump.
Blackfoot tribal member Don Fish performed an opening ceremony to start the activities, and the festival featured original designs from Native artists, including DG House (Cherokee), Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Flathead Salish), Angela Babby (Oglala Lakota), Rabbit Knows Gun (Crow), and others.
A news release from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks says the Festival is a cooperative effort of Montana State Parks along with Terry Zee Lee (founder of SkyWindWorld) and Drake Smith. Zee Lee has worked with Native American artists from around the United States to develop unique buffalo-themed kites, and SkyWindWorld is a nonprofit agency that organizes and sponsors kite flying events, workshops, and traveling exhibits at locations in Montana and Canada.
Kite kits are available to buy for $6 at the event. First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park is located 3.5 miles north of Ulm, just off Interstate 15 at Exit 270.
