Regalia closet allows Billings students to check out cultural attire

Pow wows are a way of life for many Montana Native Americans, but the regalia can often be cost-prohibitive. That's not the case though for Billings public school students, thanks to a partnership that's producing handmade cultural attire.

Any given pow wow in Montana showcases multiple regalia styles, each matching a specific dance, each time-consuming and costly to make, some ranging into the thousands of dollars. Estimates are from $2,000 to $10,000 for each piece of regalia, with each taking 10 to 14 hours to hand-make.

Volunteer clothing designer and Billings beading shop owner Lisa Hawley with 406 Native Roots is spending her 2024 making six styles of regalia in seven sizes to accommodate growing kids. That’s 42 separate outfits including girls fancy dance and shawl, jingle, elk tooth, and boys fancy feather, grass and hot dance.

“These are the angora ankle pieces, and they just wrap around the ankle. Then over the top of that are the bells,” said Hawley as she showed some of her homemade regalia.

Lisa even makes her own patterns and pairs her volunteer work with funding from Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders to make all of this possible.

“I had a lot of pride seeing the kids out there in the dance regalia that I created. I saw girls in their jingle dresses and the fancy shawl outfits that I created,” said Hawley.

Carolyn Rusche teaches those dances every Monday night during the school year at the Lincoln Center and that’s where students can check out their regalia as well, as the building is open during the busy summer pow wow months.

“I am the elementary indigenous coach, so I basically work with the 22 elementary school teachers in our district,” said Carolyn Rusche.

Lacey Perkins and her mom have browsed the regalia lookbook and checked out items.

“We chose this one. It's a shawl for me,” said Lacey, a sixth-grade student at Riverside Elementary School.

“I am very impressed and I'm very happy with the things that she's learned through the indigenous, through the school district,” said Christina Brown, Lacey’s mother.

Lacey says the best part is learning the new dance styles and dancing with her friends.

“Our cultural enrichment is a critical piece of belonging. Knowing that living in Billings, we are still Indigenous, and you're exactly where you belong,” says Calli Nicholson, director of Indigenous Education for Billings Public Schools.

Billings Public School students can check out the regalia for free from the Lincoln Center in Downtown Billings.