Story and photos by Kennedy DeLap

A crowd gathered at the Sky Dancer Casino and Resort 5 miles west of Belcourt on a chilly fall morning to watch the first event of its kind take place – a white buffalo gifting ceremony. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa had 11 white bison until Oct. 16, 2024, when they gifted five white bison calves to neighboring tribes in North Dakota and Minnesota.

White bison hold deep significance for the Indigenous tribes of the Great Plains. They are also rare, occurring once in every 10 million bison.

One of the most nailbiting, adrenaline-pumping and sheerly breathtaking sports returns to North Dakota this summer – the Indian Relay.

Often called “America’s first extreme sport” and one of the nation’s oldest sports, Indian Relay is having a modern revival.
 

“It’s kind of scary thinking about traveling an hour plus to get the care we need,” Marketing and Human Resource Specialist Lauren McClintock said at the Aug. 27 grand opening for the new Rugby hospital. “We want to think about the future when we think of health care, and we want to think about our communities and what can help us the most.”