November 19, 2025
More Than a New Village
There is a moment visitors will experience when they enter Morning Star American Indian Village.
One minute, they are at Cheyenne Frontier Days, surrounded by the excitement, energy, and traditions that have made the Daddy of 'em All® famous for more than a century.
Then they step through the gate. The pace changes. The atmosphere changes. People slow down.
"When people walk through that gate, they may have been at Cheyenne Frontier Days before," said Renée Middleton, Executive Director of Cheyenne Frontier Days Foundation. "But when they walk through that gate, they've moved into a different experience."
That experience is exactly what Morning Star American Indian Village was designed to create. Opening during Cheyenne Frontier Days 2026, the nearly four-acre village is a celebration of the Plains Tribes whose stories, traditions, and contributions have been woven into the fabric of Cheyenne Frontier Days for more than 130 years.
Morning Star represents a new way of sharing Native culture, one rooted in authenticity, collaboration, education, and respect.
More Than a New Facility
For generations, American Indian dancers, singers, storytellers, and artisans have welcomed visitors into the Indian Village at Cheyenne Frontier Days. The new Morning Star American Indian Village builds upon that legacy while creating space for deeper engagement and learning.
At its center is a stunning sunken dance arbor, a feature so important to the project's vision that it remained a priority throughout years of planning and design refinement.
Middleton describes the arbor as the visual centerpiece of the village, something visitors can see from every entrance and are immediately drawn toward. Surrounding it are spaces dedicated to storytelling, traditional music, artisan demonstrations, and cultural sharing. Native dancers, flute players, artists, and craftspeople will continue a tradition that has connected visitors with Plains Indian culture for generations.
This is a living cultural experience.
More Than Public Art
Throughout the village, original artwork created by Native artists tells stories that visitors may not encounter elsewhere.
Large-scale murals and installations represent multiple Plains tribes, including Cheyenne, Arapaho, Lakota, and others connected to the region. Each piece includes the artist's perspective, creating opportunities for Native voices to speak directly to visitors.
One of the village's most powerful works honors American Indian veterans. The mural highlights the long history of Native people serving in every major U.S. conflict, often at a higher rate than any other ethnic group, and recognizes that many answered the call to serve long before Native Americans were granted U.S. citizenship.
Created using artwork by Native veteran and artist Martin Redbear, the installation explores not only military service, but also family, community, sacrifice, and resilience.
For Middleton, discovering that history was eye-opening. "How could I have gotten to this ripe old age and not have known this [history]?" she reflected during the project's development. That question became part of the village's purpose: sharing stories that deserve to be better known.
More Than a Place to Visit
Every detail of Morning Star was developed with the goal of creating an authentic cultural experience.
That commitment earned praise from Lakota actor and cultural advisor Mo Brings Plenty, who reviewed the project plans before construction began and has remained supportive throughout the process.
"Morning Star will allow American Indian voices to speak directly, offering visitors an authentic experience rooted in respect," he wrote.
His words capture the vision behind the entire project. Rather than telling Native stories from the outside looking in, Morning Star creates space for those stories to be shared by Native artists, performers, historians, and cultural leaders themselves.
More Than a New Beginning
Morning Star means "new beginnings,” an appropriate name for a project years in the making. Visitors will come for the dance performances, music, artwork, storytelling, and cultural demonstrations. They will discover a beautiful new space unlike anything else in the region.
But the lasting impact may be something less visible.
A deeper understanding.
A greater appreciation.
A stronger connection to the cultures and communities that have helped shape the history of Wyoming and Cheyenne Frontier Days for more than a century.
And perhaps, as they leave the village and return to the bustle of the rodeo grounds, they will carry a few new stories with them as well.
