Redefining the Old West: meet the people ushering in a new age

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In a region best known for cowboys and saloons, creatives, Indigenous artisans and chefs are leading the charge towards a new age.

I meet Bob Dylan down an alleyway in Fargo. He looks at me, his back to the wall, brow furrowed. A cigarette hangs between his fingers and a newspaper is folded beneath his arm. I stop and stare back. The singer spent time here in the late 1950s, and thanks to this enormous art piece, created by Los Angeles muralist Jules Muck in 2022, he’s now a permanent resident.

LesleyAnne takes me on a tour of the city’s murals, leading me to one of her own, a splash of cow print covering a brick building. It’s a nod to the region’s agricultural might — there are still some 26,000 farms and ranches across the state — but beyond the aptly named ‘Cow Wall’, whispers of this farming tradition are hushed by Fargo’s urban buzz. LesleyAnne takes me to Parachigo, an arts venue, tattoo parlour and vegetarian cafe that operates out of a former women’s clinic.

The shop is dense with treasures: belts woven with porcupine quills, intricately beaded moccasins and a buffalo hide painted with a Little Bighorn battle scene. “For the most part, these are modern reflections of adornments and cultural expressions from way back,” Ryan explains.

Among those boomtowns was Red Lodge. The first mine opened here in 1887 and it soon mushroomed into a raucous settlement bristling with saloons. Those saloons have now been replaced with gift shops and fancy restaurants serving small plates. I wander the streets, ducking into Western-wear boutique Paris Montana Mercantile.

As if to prove the point, she lays out her own creations — frilly lace and leather chaps dyed in sea greens and muted pinks, and billowing bustle skirts that seem like they could float off the hanger of their own volition. “It’s prairie meets Vogue,” I say. She sells dresses and leggings emblazoned with geometric patterns in burning oranges and electric blues, and accessories adorned with prints of traditional Crow beadwork. Della describes herself as “culturally strong”, living on the Crow Reservation and speaking the Apsáalooke language, which was almost rendered obsolete when Native children were forced into US-run boarding schools from the 1800s. Tribal peoples in the area are committed to preserving these traditions, she tells me.

 

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