A group of Native people are planning a demonstration to protest encroachment on Bear Butte.
Members of the Native Lives Matter movement plan to hold a march from Bear Butte to the new Full Throttle Saloon during the Sturgis Rally.
Earlier this year, Mike Ballard, owner of the Full Throttle Saloon got a green light from Meade County commissioners to re-open his facility in a new location. Last year, the Full Throttle burned down, and the new spot Ballard is opening is closer to Bear Butte.
That got the attention of some Lakota people who say Bear Butte is a sacred site that needs to be protected from development.
Full Throttle owner Mike Ballard says the new location for his bar should not impact native people at Bear Butte. He says, the new bandstand is pointed in the opposite direction of the butte.
“Our music blows completely away from Bear Butte," Ballard says. "So, out of respect for them and everything that’s out there, we’re going to be better neighbors than they’ve ever had in the past 10 years out there. And because we’re pointing our stage in the opposite direction of where it previously was, it’s going to be better for them. And then cleaning the property up like we’ve done and the things that we’ve done with it already, I feel that it’s going to be better than what it was before.”
Ballard says no tribal members have reached out to him with concerns over the new location of the Full Throttle Saloon. He says the biker bar is four and a half miles from Bear Butte, and has been a concert venue for the last ten years.
But the organizer behind an event called Protect Bear Butte From Mike Ballard disagrees. Cody Hall says Ballard’s proximity to the sacred site is a concern to many Lakota people.
“Our Hanble`ceya is where we go and pray, whether it’s one or two or four days," Hall says. "But we prepare our whole body and minds to sacrifice ourselves for our people during the ceremonial season. So, we don’t need all of that hypocrisy of all these bikes and the disrespect and all that hoopla that goes on. I don’t know if we will ever find a happy medium, but we definitely need to take a stand on ‘respect us.’”
Hall is worried the development of the Full Throttle Saloon may lend itself to further development around Bear Butte.
The demonstration is set for August tenth. Organizers say they will meet at the Rosebud Lodge and march to the new Full Throttle location.