Attend Indigenous Cultural Events

A note about terms

The term Native American is typically used in political and academic matters. When Native Americans refer to themselves and to personal matters, they might use Indian, American Indian, First American, First Peoples, or Indigenous Peoples instead of Native American.

 

Cultural ambassadors speaking to visitors at Yellowstone Revealed 2022 by Mountain Time Arts.

NPS / Jacob W. Frank

For over 10,000 years before Yellowstone became a national park, it was a place where Native Americans lived, hunted, fished, gathered plants, quarried obsidian, and used thermal waters for religious and medicinal purposes. Today, there are at least 27 Tribes who have historic and modern connections to the lands and resources now found within the park.

Indigenous cultural events in Yellowstone:

Check the online calendar, NPS App, or at visitor centers for additional daily activities and events happening throughout the park.

 

Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center

May 17-October 14, 2023 | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. | Old Faithful area | View schedule of presenters

The Yellowstone Tribal Heritage Center is a space where Indigenous artists, scholars, and presenters from the 27 Tribes associated with the park directly engage with visitors through formal and informal education. The center is a partnership between the National Park Service and Yellowstone Forever, with Indigenous consultation.

 

Lighting of Teepees: An Era of Unity and Inclusivity by Pretty Shield Foundation

August 1-7, 2023 | North Entrance in Gardiner, Montana | Learn more

Yellowstone is honored to host for a second year the Lighting of Teepees, a collaborative effort with Pretty Shield Foundation and Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council. Visitors to the park are invited to view the seven teepees, illuminated nightly at sunset, at the Roosevelt Arch in Gardiner, Montana, and learn about the historic and continued presence of American Indian Tribes in the Yellowstone region.

 

Yellowstone Revealed 2023 by Mountain Time Arts

August 10-12, 2023 | 9 a.m.-5 p.m. | Madison Junction | View schedule of events

Yellowstone National Park is honored to host for a second year Yellowstone Revealed, a collaborative effort with Mountain Time Arts. Yellowstone Revealed 2023 will present an interactive, self-guided experience that combines art and storytelling. The experience will take visitors on a thought-provoking Indigenous narrative journey about the shared past, present, and future of teepee lodges sited where the Gibbon River joins the Firehole River to form the Madison River. Visitors to the park are invited to participate in this free experience.