60^th anniversary program

   Crazy Horse Memorial will celebrate its 60^th anniversary with a 10 a.m. public program featuring Olympic champion Billy Mills, Rapid City-based drum group Okiciyapi and Crow Creek Sioux Tribe champion hoop dancer Jasmine Pickner of Rapid City.

    The presentation will be on the visitor center viewing deck, weather permitting. If rain prevails – a storm delayed the 1948 dedication – the ceremonies will move indoors.

    Two blasts on the mountain carving will cap the program at 11 a.m. The first, removing 10 tons, will replicate the size of the 1948 blast that started the private, nonprofit endeavor to honor the history and living heritage of Native American Indians. A second blast, moving about 1,000 tons, will demonstrate the ongoing commitment to complete the world’s largest sculptural undertaking, which will be 641 feet long and 563 feet high.

   Admission to the Memorial on June 3 will be free in exchange for contributions of three cans of food per person for the KOTA Care & Share Food Drive.

    Native American artisans and other exhibitors will be in the Indian Museum of North America and the Native American Educational & Cultural Center. Optional bus rides to the bottom of the mountain carving also will be offered.

    The diamond jubilee anniversary will round out with the evening presentation of the “Legends in Light” ^® laser-light show projected on the mountain carving. Those attending the daytime programs can return for the evening show by obtaining a free “re-admit pass” at the Memorial’s Welcome Center information desk.

    Crazy Horse Memorial’s 60^th anniversary special events for 2008 will include the June 7-8 Crazy Horse Memorial Volksmarch hike to the mountain carving, the only time each year that the public can walk to the mountain; the Crazy Horse Stampede Rodeo and Gift from Mother Earth Celebration art show on June 13-15; the June 26 night blast to honor the anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn and the 82^nd birthday of Memorial President-CEO Ruth Ziolkowski; the Aug. 30-Sept. 1 Labor Day weekend open house; and the Sept. 6 night blast to commemorate the dual anniversaries of the death of Crazy Horse in 1877 and the 100th birthday of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, born in 1908.

    Crazy Horse Memorial, located on U.S. Highway 16/385 between Hill City and Custer, is open year-round. Admission is always free to Native Americans, military personnel with active-duty ID, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops in uniform, and to residents of Custer County.