An Ri Ra and Original Mine - Butte, Montana

I could hear the whole festival. I just couldn’t see it.

Saturday night of An Rí Rá, I was up on a dirt road west of the Original Mine, waiting for the last bit of daylight to fade.

The wind was blowing, the Irish flag was whipping above the headframe, and music carried up the hillside. Between songs, I could hear the performers talking about how grateful they were to be in Butte, followed by screams and woohoos from the crowd below.

And then that green glow!

The Original headframe lit up the mine yard, spilling green onto the buildings below it. Beyond that, Uptown was settling into evening, with the Federal Building glowing in the distance.

I was up there mostly by myself, camera in hand, just taking it all in. The people and performers don’t actually appear in the finished piece, but somehow I still feel like they’re there.

I love that Butte has nights like this.