This Lakota-Owned Drum Shop in Rapid City Keeps a Sacred Tradition Alive

Walk into Dakota Drum Company in downtown Rapid City, South Dakota, and you won’t be greeted by the usual hum of retail chatter. Instead, you might hear the rhythmic scrape of a buffalo hide stretched across a wooden frame, or catch the earthy scent of rawhide drying in the back room.

For over two decades, this small storefront has served as both a business and a living continuation of Lakota tradition, with artist and drum-maker Sonja Holy Eagle at the center of it.

Holy Eagle, who grew up on the Cheyenne River and Pine Ridge reservations, has been crafting buffalo hide drums for over 30 years—by hand. She is entirely self-taught, learning technique from the traditional art her grandparents practiced and about colors from her mother’s intricate star quilts. Today, every drum that leaves Dakota Drum is crafted by Holy Eagle’s hands alone, from the initial scrape of the hide to the final painted brushstroke.

The drum-making process is far more involved than most visitors realize. While many modern drums use chemically treated rawhide, Holy Eagle insists on the traditional method: hand-scraping each buffalo hide using only water and a blade, a slow technique that preserves the hide’s natural strength (chemicals break down fibers in the hide, making them brittle and prone to cracking). The hides are then soaked, stretched, laced, and dried repeatedly, over and over again for several days before they can even be handled, let alone painted. The result? A drum that will last not years, but generations.

For the Lakota people, that level of care is inseparable from meaning. The buffalo—tȟatȟáŋka or, more commonly today, tatanka—is a sacred relative, once providing everything from food and clothing to shelter and tools. Using buffalo hide to create an instrument isn’t simply craft in Lakota culture; it’s a form of remembrance. Drums carry prayers, seal ceremonies, and speak across communities. For Holy Eagle, every finished drum is a continuation of heritage and relationship rather than a product on a shelf.

Dakota Drum reflects that philosophy in more than just its instruments. Alongside drums and hand-painted buffalo robes, the shop also features beadwork and quillwork sourced exclusively from artists on the Cheyenne River, Pine Ridge, and Rosebud reservations. Here, shoppers become students, browsing turns into learning, and learning turns into a deeper respect for the time, skill, and story embedded in each piece.

And while Rapid City has changed dramatically over the last 20-some years, Dakota Drum Company has remained a constant on downtown’s Main Street, its cultural and artistic heartbeat steady. Locals pop in to watch Holy Eagle work; travelers seeking authentic Native art often discover it by chance. Even when she isn’t in the shop, Holy Eagle’s presence and legacy are felt: painted hides line the walls and you can almost hear the soft echo of drums. It’s clear this particular story is still being written—one handcrafted drum at a time.

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And if you can't make it to South Dakota, Holy Eagle also runs a well-established, perfect 5-star-rated Etsy shop, shipping her drums and artwork to people around the world.