Little Bighorn Days

At eight on the Saturday morning of Little Bighorn Days 2026, the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office was serving pancakes downtown at about 213 North Center Avenue in Hardin. The breakfast was free, and donations went to anti-drug programs. At eleven the Family Parade started down Center Avenue under the year’s theme, “The 150th: Honoring the Land, Remembering the People.” The beer garden at the pancake address had opened by then and stayed open until midnight. The city of Hardin gave the festival’s dates as June 25 through 27, 2026. The Visit Southeast Montana listing ran them through June 28.

Saturday on the 200 and 300 blocks

From one to three that afternoon the car show filled the 300 block of North Center. It drew classic cars, hot rods, muscle cars, motorcycles, pickups and custom builds from across the region, and spectators walked the line to meet owners and vote for favorites. Bill’s Auto Parts of Hardin sponsored it, and entry was free. Juliette Angelo played on the same block from 1:15 to 2:45. Out at the Big Horn County Fairgrounds the Big Horn Cornfed Baggers ran a corn hole tournament, and the Big Horn County Museum kept its doors open from ten to five.

At five the Lil Bender 3 arm wrestling began on the 200 block. Family games ran an hour on the 300 block, each with a local backer:

• the Big Horn Bed Races, sponsored by Big Horn Hospital
• a water balloon toss, sponsored by First Interstate Bank
• tricycle races, sponsored by Little Horn State Bank
• a three-legged race, sponsored by Roni Sargent Gordon, who also sat on the planning committee
• a stick horse race, sponsored by Gold Buckle Real Estate

From eight to eleven the band Crow Country played a free street dance on the 200 block to close the festival.

Bingo, trivia and a run from the depot

The two days before ran on a slower clock. On Thursday the art show opened, a quilt show filled the Big Horn County Library, and a historic book fair took over Bob Smith Ford. At one o’clock the Lammers Trading Post Exhibition Powwow began on the downtown 300 block. That evening the Bingo Roundup filled the Historical Hardin Depot from six to nine. At 7:10 the festival’s page posted that play was on round five, with “still time to come play.”

Friday began at eight with Custer’s Last Run, which Keith and Tonya Francis hosted from the depot. Kids Day held the middle of the day downtown. It opened with the Kids Parade at eleven and ran to five, with:

• a popsicle party from Lynn’s Superfoods
• bouncy houses paid for by Kelsey and Thor Torske
• balloon animals from Fisher Performance Horses
• a petting zoo
• games backed by Hardin New Life and ACT and the 4-H Club

A ladder ball tournament began at three on the 200 block of Center Avenue, with free team entry and players of all skill levels. From five to seven the depot hosted Battle of the Little Bighorn trivia. A Johnny Cash tribute played the 300 block from eight to nine-thirty. The festival schedule billed it as the 500 Club Concert, and the Facebook page named the act as JC Cole & Folsom ‘68.

Across the three days, Harriet’s Theatre showed a Reel History film series:

• Life in the Land, Central MT Plains on Thursday
• Still Here, A Crow Nation Story and Bring Them Home on Friday
• Life in the Land, the Mighty Few on Saturday morning

The battle and the pageant west of town

The 2026 theme marked a date. Friends of the Depot gives the Battle of the Little Bighorn as fought June 25–26, 1876, along the Little Bighorn River. It was fought between U.S. Army forces and “a large, powerful alliance of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors.” The group’s 2026 schedule listed the Real Bird Reenactment at Garryowen, Montana, at one o’clock on Thursday and again on Saturday. The city listed that reenactment as its own event, June 26 through 28. The Visit Southeast Montana listing promised “a major Custer’s Last Stand reenactment” as part of the festival.

That Custer’s Last Stand reenactment goes back further. Montana Living reported in 2016 that it had been performed each year since 1990 as part of the Hardin Chamber of Commerce’s Little Bighorn Days. It was staged six miles west of Hardin off Highway 87, four times in three days. The hour-long show followed a narrative by Crow tribal historian Dr. Joe Medicine Crow. It told the battle and the events leading up to it “through the eyes of the Native American people,” starting with Lewis and Clark and the mountain men. More than 200 performers covered nearly a century.

According to the 2016 account, spectators on bleachers first watched covered wagons cross the fields, with children running beside them. Tipis stood in the distance. Then violence broke out between settlers and Natives, and the pioneers fled. Warriors in war paint rode out to meet the blue-clad cavalry, and gunshots carried across the field. When it ended, Custer’s troops were defeated, with no survivors. The same article quotes Custer’s words to his men on the day of the battle: “Hold your horses in boys, there are plenty of them down there for all of us.”

The Friends of the Depot

The 2026 festival was run from the old railroad depot at 10 East Railway Street. Friends of the Depot formed in 2004 to restore the building as a community gathering place and a stop for visitors. The group went inactive for a time, was reinstated in 2025, and took the lead on Little Bighorn Days in 2026. Its planning committee was Tori Chavez, Rhonda Lehr, Roni Sargent Gordon, Nadine Burke, Tina Toyne, Ashley Pitsch and Alexandria Edwards. Volunteers set up, directed traffic, picked up trash and greeted guests.

By mid-July the group announced that planning for 2027 had begun. An anonymous community survey followed and closed September 7, 2026. It asked residents when Little Bighorn Days should be held, what it should aim for, and which events should return.