54th annual Shoshone-Bannock Indian Festival gets ready to kickoff

The 54th annual Shoshone-Bannock Indian Festival is August 10th-13th. The festival has a long history and has drawn in dancers from all over the United States.

“We started the powwow back in the 1960’s, and it was a way to celebrate the end of the summer,” said Shoshone-Bannock Tribe Spokeswoman, Randy’L Teton. “So we really like to kickoff with the powwow dancing, which is a gathering, its social dancing. And it turned into a little bit more competitive in the later years. We have dancers and drum groups coming from all over indian country, and what I mean by that is we have people coming all the way from Florida to Oklahoma, Canada. A lot of states are coming into Fort Hall next week,” added Teton.

Guest at the festival can expect to see everything from sports tournaments to indian racing.

“We actually do not just focus on the powwow, we actually have indian relay racing…We also have two parades. And a lot of the powwow dancing starts nightly at 7 p.m. and goes sometimes clear into the wee hours of 2 a.m.,” said Teton.

Over 70 vendors are expected to be at the event and all of the activities will be in walking distance from each other.

For a schedule of the events, click here.