Journey Museum and Learning Center Native Americans’ Day celebrations

RAPID CITY, S.D. — The Journey Museum in Rapid City is normally closed on Mondays — but this was not the case on October 11, 2021.

The museum opened for it’s Community Day event with Native themed-activities and programs in conjunction with Native Americans’ Day.

The holiday was first established in 1990 by then-governor George S. Mickelson, changing the holiday from its original name, Columbus Day.

The museum had a special classroom session that showed patrons how indigenous people used different parts of bison for things outside of food and warmth, along with a lesson in ledger art.

However, the museum’s biggest takeaway for guests is education.

“The challenge is that you can’t think that you are done,” said Executive Director Troy Kilpatrick. “You have to keep learning more, digging in a little deeper, making sure that you understand how to learn about other cultures and how to celebrate those cultures.”

Also on display was their newest exhibit, Bird Songs. Bird Songs is made up of detailed watercolor paintings by artist Arthur Shortbull that depict native birds along with their original Lakota names and the stories behind the names.

“This is living content, and we hope that everybody celebrates that it’s Native American Day,” Kilpatrick said. “And we’re celebrating Native American Day. So this is a celebration of that culture, and it’s something that all of us should embrace so that we can learn more about the places that we live.”

For more information about the museum and to see what they have coming up, check out the museum calendar.