09/28/2024
09/29/2024
Performed every three years on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the Peace Treaty Festival.
It is difficult to explain the Peace Treaty Pageant... you really must see it to believe it! One could say it is a little like Yellowstone's "1883," live in a scenic natural amphitheater. It is an epic-scale reenactment that dramatizes the history of "The West" before you, with horses, wagons, hundreds of actors, and even an ox! This grand-scale live performance takes place near the original site of the Great Peace Council of 1867 between the U.S. Government and the five Plains Tribes. The pageant is an invitation to watch centuries of history unfold, and commemorates the area's diverse heritage of Native peoples, discoverers, explorers and settlers. The scene depicting the signing of the Treaty of 1867 is performed by actual descendants of the original tribal signers of the document. Produced by the citizens of Medicine Lodge and their friends and families, you will witness history come alive before you: the exploration of Coronado, explorers Lewis & Clark and Zebulon Pike, Native Americans (through actor portrayal) defending their beloved homelands, a herd of longhorn cattle driven by real-life cowboys, and settlers moving west ahead of the impending railroads. The entrance of the lengthy wagon train into the amphitheater creates an awesome scene, but not all journeys in the covered wagons are peaceful, and the cavalry must rescue settlers from attack. Many of the actors have had family members in the pageant since the first production in 1927.
