ALLENSPARK - The day was mostly sunny, with a random afternoon shower. I had received an invitation to a 32-year-old tradition that I had been wanting to attend for a while.

Around 1917, Katherine Lindsay moved west and started a business in a new structure in Allenspark. She fashioned the original building after a Kansas farmhouse, naming the business The What Not Inn. 

She served afternoon tea to her customers, but more importantly, she sold antiques, art, and curios. Lindsay’s fondness for American Indian art and her collection of Indigenous artifacts would influence the shop’s direction. 

After marrying O.S. Perkins, she renamed her shop Perkins Trading Post. Over the years, the Perkinses sold solely the arts and crafts of American Indians. Perkins Trading Post became one of the better-known dealers of Indigenous art in the Western States.

It was the late 1920s when Charles Eagle Plume became acquainted with the Perkinses while studying at the University of Colorado in Boulder. As Mr. Perkins’s health declined, Eagle Plume began helping Mrs. Perkins with everyday chores.

Eagle Plume spent his summers entertaining visitors with Indian lore and dancing. Sometimes, dressed in full regalia, he would ambush tourists with a shower of arrows. Many of them would eventually purchase some of the unique moccasins or Navajo rugs featured at the store. 

Eagle Plume, along with Mrs. Perkins, ran the store until she died in 1966. Eagle Plume inherited the shop, enchanting those who walked through its door. Eagle Plume’s tall tales and corny jokes added to the history of what became the Eagle Plume Trading store. 

Part of the store’s charm is the clock, in the Lindsay family since 1881, situated behind Eagle Plume’s desk. Every week without fail, while Eagle Plume ran the store, he would yell out at the top of his lungs, "Has anyone wound the clock?" 

One Sunday morning, one of the workers, Nico Strange Owl, who now manages the store, asked why the clock needed to be ritually wound every Sunday. Eagle Plume responded, "Because when that clock stops, I die." 

Strange Owl kept the clock ticking. Sadly, as the years passed, Eagle Plume became progressively more unwell. Even after moving to a local nursing home, he continued to commute daily to the shop, working seven days a week from nine to five. 

One day after dinner, the staff returned to find that the clock no longer ticked. Eagle Plume passed on September 8, 1992, at 6:20 p.m., the exact time the clock had stopped.

He entrusted the shop to the Strange Owl-Raben family. 

After a year of mourning, the tradition of toasting to the ghost began. On Monday, September 8, 2025, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., I was part of the tradition, listening to stories about Eagle Plume and how he influenced his community. 

During the winter months, Eagle Plume toured the US lecturing on Indian art and culture. He gained national recognition as a lecturer and performer, championing civil rights and pleading for peace and understanding among all races.

He encouraged those who would listen to acknowledge and appreciate the countless gifts the Indigenous people of America have given to our society.

It was an honor to be a part of such a beautiful tradition, and humbling to hear stories directly from those who lived them. 

Cheers to Charles Eagle Plume, the Northern Cheyenne of Montana Tribe, and those keeping this aspect of American history alive!

Eagle Plume’s is located at 9853 Highway 7, Allenspark. You can find it on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EaglePlumeTrading or call 303-747-2861. Be sure to stop by during the Studio Tour coming up this weekend.