The Annual Cavalry Days event is in the planning stages now!
Visit Sturgis for a variety of activities, a parade, bank robbery, Art Show, Fashion Show,
re-enactments, wagon rides, competitions and tours are just a few of the activities.
Come check out what
is new this year as we enjoy our Annual Cavalry Days celebration!
We have a full schedule events at Fort Meade and in Sturgis! Events are planned to
entertain the young and old while reliving the days of the cavalry and the settlers. Join us for the
festivities at Fort Meade one-mile east of Sturgis, SD on Highway 34 for the real life encampments and
reenactments.
Saturday events get underway with tours at the Fort Meade Museum and Poker Alice House. The Art Show
and Vintage Fashion Show will be held in town on Saturday. Step back in time with the most fashionable
outfits of "The Day". Narrated tours of Fort Meade will be provided. Plenty of activity will take place
at Barry Stadium, including Blacksmith demonstrations, Native American Living History Encampment,
children's games and buildings sat up as a mock frontier town.
We will have period authentic and non-period authentic vendors for you to shop with.
Partake in the:
- Pony Express Competition
- Annie Tallent Pie Baking Contest
- Quick Draw Competition
- and more!
Come and join us as we venture back in time! For more information stop in and visit the Sturgis
Area Chamber of Commerce located at 2040 Junction Ave, Sturgis, SD 57785, call (605)347-2556.
Sturgis Area Chamber of Commerce
Calvary Days - History
Fort Meade was the only military post in the Black Hills during the region's
frontier era. It has the distinction of out-lasting the 22 other posts established in what was Dakota
Territory until 1889.
Fort Meade was established in 1878 as a cavalry post for the 7th Cavalry, which for a time, was led by
General George Armstrong Custer. Numerous cavalry/military units were stationed at Fort Meade through
the years. These included a mounted black troop, a black infantry unit, the 88th Glider Infantry and
many others.
For ten years, Fort Meade was the home of the famous horse, Comanche. This horse arrived at Fort Meade
when retired with honors after having been found heavily wounded among the 7th Cavalry dead in at the
Little Big Horn battleground. Comanche was the only living representative on the military side of this
famous battle.
Fort Meade also has the distinction of being the birthplace of our national anthem. "The Star Spangled
Banner" was first played on July 4, 1892 at the end of a concert presented by the regimental band.
Colonel Caleb H. Carlton was the commanding officer who first enforced the playing of this song at
retreat. It wasn't, however, until 1914 that President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order
declaring "The Star Spangled Banner" as the national anthem. Congress officially signed the bill
making it the national anthem in 1931.
The Fort Meade Property was transferred to the Veterans Administration in 1944. The facility began as
a neuropsychiatric hospital and later general medicine and surgery were added. In early 1967, the
current hospital complex was completed.
South Dakota Bureau of Land Managment Website