Second annual Big Horn Basin Folk Festival Saturday and Sunday

THERMOPOLIS – The second annual Big Horn Basin Folk Festival being held in the Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis this weekend promises a weekend of family, fun and learning.

“The Big Horn Folk Festival is a celebration of Wyoming. It celebrates who we are, where we live and what we do. What is special about Wyoming is we still work with our hands, it’s part of our heritage and even today’s culture. Our artisans range from those who raise fiber animals and process their own fiber to those who work in forged metal, woodturners and furniture makers, basket makers and quilters, those who work in mixed media, rug hooking and rope making,” Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation Director Sue Blakey said.

Some people think when they hear folk festival that music is the main focus, but while it is a part, there is so much more. “We have 130 artisans representing 33 different Wyoming communities,” Blakey said.

The folk festival highlights folk art.

“Jacky lines up musical entertainment, it’s all done in the Hot Springs State Park. We have demonstrators that demonstrate folk art, like horse hair braiding, leather craft, just all sorts of demonstrations and most of those are hands on, they have to be hands on, people have to be able to try their hand at it.

The festival will have something for everyone, men, women and children alike. “There will be a huge selection for men and tons of stuff for the children. The artisans will be demonstrating their skills and many will have projects that people can attempt for themselves,” Blakey said.

“Then we do a juried art show and you have to be accepted into that. There are certain folk art criteria that we use. If you don’t meet the criteria of the juried show than we have a trading post that the Kiwanis club handles. Those are more like your soap makers, textile makers and Scentsys and Tupperware,” Darlington said.

Gift of the Water

The Gift of the Waters Pageant will also be the same weekend in the Hot Springs State Park with activities starting as early as 6:45 a.m. Saturday morning. The main events will be Saturday and Sunday evenings with a pageant from 6 – 7 p.m.

According to Wyomingfolkfestival.com, “On April 21, 1896, Chief Washakie of the Shoshone and Chief Sharp Nose of the Arapaho signed a treaty with the U.S. government at Fort Washakie on the Wind River Reservation. They sold a 10-mile-square tract of land surrounding the Big Horn Hot Springs (“Big Spring”). Washakie stipulated that some portion of the healing waters remain free to all people forever. In return the tribe was to receive $60,000 in cattle and food supplies.

“The ‘Gift of the Waters’ is not a re-enactment of the event but an annual celebration of the camaraderie of two nations. The drama was originally written in 1925 by Marie Montabe and has been performed in the park annually since 1950. It includes members of the Eastern Shoshone tribe singing and dancing, with “The Lord’s Prayer” in Native sign language.”

Thermopolis this weekend is sure to have something for everyone in every family.