Upcoming Events

2nd Annual Powder River Basin Sheepherders Festival

FRIDAY, MAY 5TH AND SATURDAY, MAY 6TH FROM 9:00 A.M. TO 4:00 P.M. EACH DAY

The Campbell County Rockpile Museum invites the public to join us Friday May 5^th and Saturday May 6^th, 2023, for the 2^nd Annual Powder River Basin Sheepherders Festival. This FREE event will take place 9:00am to 4:00pm each day and will be highlighted by cultural presentations from David Romtvedt, Big Horn Basque Club, Billings Caledonian Pipes and Drums, and Sheep Dog Trial Demos with Michelle Miller. Friday will also include a special presentation by Dr. Alison Krogel inside the Rockpile Museum at 6:30pm where she will provide an introductory discussion on the modern Quechuan/Peruvian sheepherders throughout Wyoming and the United States. 

This event will focus on both the historic and modern culture of working sheep in the Powder River Basin from the Scots and Basque who immigrated here at the turn of the 20^th century to the modern Quechua Sheepherders who come from their mountain homes of South America to work the sheep of Wyoming. Event will be located just below the Rockpile Museum in the field next to Fire Station #1, with an entrance into the parking zone on 1^st Street. 

David Romtvedt will present Friday at 2:00pm and Saturday at 10:00am and 1:00pm. His programs for this event will focus on traditional and contemporary Basque storytelling, poetry, and music. Sheep Dog Trial Demos with Michelle Miller will take place Friday at 3:00pm and Saturday 11:00am and 3:00pm. She will be on hand each day with her working sheep dogs to demonstrate the important work that sheep dogs provide to sheepherders. Scottish music from the Billings Caledonian Pipes and Drums Band will be held on Saturday at 2:00pm. Throughout the festival there will be several styles of Sheepwagons that will be open to the public, a cultural food experience, and more! 

Please call 307-682-5723 for more information.  

"Bombing Wyoming: Operation Fu-Go and the First Intercontinental Missile Attacks on the United States, 1944-1945"

MONDAY, MAY 15TH AT 7:00 P.M.

On May 15, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. Dave Marcum will be giving a presentation in Gillette titled "Bombing Wyoming: Operation Fu-Go and the First Intercontinental Missile Attacks on the United States, 1944-1945." In his talk Marcum will discuss a campaign of incendiary balloon attacks Japan conducted against the United States at the end of World War II. At least thirteen of those balloons made it as far as Wyoming, with one coming down near Newcastle. 

David Marcum is an independent researcher studying the history of the Transcontinental Airway in Wyoming and the history of the Cold War in the state. He is a graduate of the University of Wyoming and is retired from the United States Air Force and from Laramie County Community College where he taught political science courses for over twenty years. He lives with his wife in Cheyenne.

Presentation on Wyoming Rock Art by John and Mavis Greer

TUESDAY, MAY 23RD AT 6:00 P.M.

John and Mavis Greer from Greer Archeology will be at the Rockpile Museum on Tuesday, May 23rd at 6:00 p.m. to talk about their exhibit "Wyoming Rock Art" which is currently on display at the museum. This event is FREE and open to the public. A meeting of the Pumpkin Buttes Chapter of the Wyoming Archaeological Society will follow the presentation. All are welcome.