Montana State Parks is hosting the annual Buffalo Kite Festival at First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park this weekend.

The festival runs through 4 p.m. today and continues on Sunday, July 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Join presenter and kite builder Terry Zee Lee for a day of kite building and flying. Terry Zee Lee has worked with Native American artists from around the United States to develop buffalo-themed kites. View examples of these beautiful kites, be inspired to make your own, and watch as the kites take flight from the buffalo jump – wind permitting. Kite kits will be available to purchase for $5 on both days.

New trail loops open at First People’s Buffalo Jump State Park

In addition to the flight of the kites, visitors may try their hand at shooting a primitive bow and arrow or atlatl, make Traditional Native Game pieces, and much more. The event is sure to be great fun for visitors of all ages.

The Buffalo Kite Festival is a cooperative effort of Terry Lee Zee and Drake Smith of SkyWindWorld, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that organizes and sponsors kite flies, workshops, and traveling exhibits. The Buffalo Kite Festival is also part of a traveling kite exhibit shown at various locations in Montana and Canada in association with the Buffalo Kite Project. The festival features original designs created by Native artists, including Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Flathead Salish); Angela Babby (Oglala Lakota); Allen Knows His Gun (Crow) – to name just a few. Illustrated with bison images, kites will be flown where Native people once used the landscape to hunt buffalo for food, clothing, shelter, tools, and so much more.

For more information call the park visitor center at (406) 866-2217.

The park is located at 342 Ulm Vaughn Road. The park is 3.5 miles north of Ulm, just off Interstate 15 at Exit 270.