The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) will host the 52nd annual Buffalo Roundup and 24th annual Arts Festival in Custer State Park later this month.
The Buffalo Roundup begins at 9:30 a.m. MDT on Friday, Sept. 29. The Arts Festival will run from Thursday, Sept. 28, through Saturday, Sept. 30.
“Each year, the Buffalo Roundup brings up to 20,000 spectators from around the world to Custer State Park to view the park’s 1,300 buffalo and watch the Old West come alive,” said Katie Ceroll, director of the Division of Parks and Recreation. “To have an arts festival with more than 125 arts and craft exhibitors means that there will be no shortage of entertainment this year for the entire family.”
The parking areas for the Roundup, located near the corrals along the Wildlife Loop Road, open at 6:15 a.m. MDT and close at 9 a.m. MDT on Sept. 29. For safety reasons, spectators need to remain in the viewing areas until all the buffalo are corralled which typically occurs around noon.
The annual Arts Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. MDT on Thursday and Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30. The Arts Festival takes place near the State Game Lodge.
The grand re-opening of the Peter Norbeck Outdoor Education Center will take place Thursday, Sept. 28. This historic building previously housed the Custer State Park Visitor Center; it has been renovated to become the new Outdoor Education Center.
“While the Buffalo Roundup’s primary purpose is herd management, it also provides our visitors an experience that is unique in the entire world,” said Jim Hagen, Secretary of the Department of Tourism. “We hear from visitors around the globe about how incredible it is to watch the bison thunder over the rolling prairie. It’s something they never forget and provides great storytelling and organic word-of-mouth marketing about our state.”
A state park entrance license is required on Thursday and Saturday, but there is no cost to attend the Buffalo Roundup or Arts Festival on Friday. Share this year’s event photos with us and let others who cannot attend take in the experience with you by using #SDintheField and #BuffaloRoundup when posting images to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
Next year’s Buffalo Roundup will be held Friday, Sept. 28, 2018.
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