The Beetle Custer Didn't Burn Last Winter Gets Another Shot in January

Last January the beetle stayed in the shop where it was built. It was a giant wooden mountain pine beetle, ready for the torches. Weeks later it was still there, waiting on a snowfall that never came in time.

The Custer County Chronicle reported that the torching scheduled for Saturday, January 17, 2026, had been postponed because of tinder-dry conditions after a winter with little precipitation. It was the first postponement in the event's history. At the time, the plan was to burn the beetle quickly once snow fell and give the public as much notice as possible. The snow never came in time. In February, NewsCenter1 reported that organizers had canceled the 2026 torch walk, the beetle burn and the fireworks altogether.

The next Burning Beetle is set for January 16, 2027, according to Visit Custer. That night will be the first burn attempt since the 2026 cancellation, and the first festival since founder Hank Fridell handed it off. The part of the festival people come to see has always depended on something outside the organizers' control.

The Call Belongs to the Fire Department

Fridell has organized the event since it began. He told the Chronicle that he stays in constant contact with the Custer Volunteer Fire Department every year in the run-up to the burn. Last January, the call that ended the plan came from deputy fire chief Matt Spring. Spring followed up with a letter to the Custer Area Arts Council saying neither the effigy nor the fireworks should be lit while fire fuels were at a critical stage. The night before the scheduled burn, the department had responded to a five-acre fire south of Custer.

Spring's letter also said that crews to support fires are in short supply at that time of year, so any ignition would tie up people who could otherwise help with the beetle. It pointed to burn bans in several counties and mentioned that two days of extreme wind would make ignitions more likely. The Chronicle printed his conclusion:

"We as a fire department know you find this disappointing, but in the essence of public safety the event cannot occur until conditions improve."

Fridell accepted the decision. "He said it didn't have anything to do with the wind," Fridell told the Chronicle. "It is just so dry right now. They are afraid of the fire danger. I agreed. We decided we would postpone it until we get some snow." He added: "These guys are looking out for us. We don't want to chance it."

The department's role isn't new. A 2017 Chronicle report described the torch march, fireworks and burn as run under Custer Volunteer Fire Department supervision. A 2022 Chronicle account also credits the department with the fireworks themselves. The same volunteers who light the show also decide whether it can be lit. When the organizers announced the cancellation, they described the 2025–26 season in a Facebook statement that NewsCenter1 quoted: "We are now faced with a winter unlike any in memory. Warm weather, the lack of snow and moisture, and unprecedented winds have created conditions where fire is a real danger."

What Went Ahead Without the Fire

Calling off the burn didn't cancel Burning Beetle weekend. The informational event, the variety show and the Bug Crawl all went on as scheduled. The schedule shows how much of the festival happens around the fire rather than in it.

Here is how last January's Saturday was laid out, based on advance coverage in the Rapid City Journal, KOTA and the Hill City Prevailer:

The variety show took donations at the door. Carrying a torch required a limited, paid ticket, which cost $25 in 2026, according to the Hill City Prevailer. The Journal noted that people without torch tickets could still walk with the group.

The Bug Crawl lineup was the most detailed part of the night. The Journal listed Josh Williamson at The Custer Wolf, Squid City Slingers at 6 p.m. and The Pocket Junkies at 8 p.m. at The Custer Beacon, and the Speed City Demons at The Gold Pan Saloon, which also planned chili dogs and spiked hot chocolate. The Custer Wolf's patio party was set to pour Lost Cabin Beer Co.'s Burn Beetle Burn, a beer brewed with marshmallow, graham cracker and cocoa nibs. Festival merchandise was sold beforehand at The Custer Wolf, South Dakota Outdoor Shop and the Custer Chamber of Commerce.

Two days earlier, on January 15, the Custer County Conservation District and the Custer Area Arts Council co-sponsored the Burning Beetle Learning Event. The district's spring newsletter said it "went forward as planned" even though the dry winter kept the effigy from burning. The speakers, in order:

1. Paul Horsted of Dakota Photographic opened with photographs of the 1997–2017 pine beetle epidemic, set against images from the 1874 Custer Expedition.
2. Tim Behlings, a landowner and retired firefighter, and Lane Ostenson of SD Wildland Fire spoke on preparing a home and property for fire.
3. Ben Puckett, a private lands habitat biologist with South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks, gave a wildlife primer for Black Hills landowners.
4. Keith Sherburn of the National Weather Service and Michael Bordelon of SD DANR Resource Conservation & Forestry closed with a review of the December 2025 windstorm and the recovery effort.

The same dry, windy winter that kept the beetle in the shop was also on the agenda inside the learning event.

A Festival That Outlived Its Beetle

Fridell started the Burning Beetle in 2012. Looking back in a January 2026 KOTA story, he said the mountain pine beetle infestation was killing about a million trees a year then and that Custer turned to the arts to cope. "When the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic hit our forest, the initial response from the community was one of disbelief, anger and depression," Fridell told the Rapid City Journal. "From there, we decided to celebrate who we are and where we live."

The effigy came later. The Bark Beetle Blues committee records the first Burning of the Beetle on January 18, 2014. A 2022 account credits Karl Svensson with building that first beetle. The same account describes a torch relay in past years: Custer High School's cross-country team carried flame from the Vigilance sculpture near the library to light the marchers' torches, while high school band drummers and Butterfly Puppet Theatre puppets by Leonard Running and Sue Hey went along.

The epidemic ended before the festival did. A 2020 U.S. Forest Service report says mountain pine beetle populations in the Black Hills returned to endemic levels in 2016 and describes the landscape-level epidemic as running from 1996 to 2017. Custer kept burning the beetle anyway. The day after last January's burn was postponed, a festival organizer told KOTA the event had been "a really effective way to kind of keep the community engaged, and the idea that bark beetles are here to stay." The proceeds go to the Custer Area Arts Council.

A tradition built around one forest problem was stopped in 2026 by a different one, a warm winter with almost no snow. The festival was designed to reflect the forest around it, and the conditions the fire department weighs each January now decide whether the beetle burns at all.

January 16 Is the First One After Fridell

The Journal reported that Fridell was stepping down as organizer after the 2026 festival. "After 14 years, he's ready to pass Burning Beetle along," said Carrie Moore, owner of Pages & Petals in Custer, who has helped organize the event for about 10 years. The 2026 logo, designed by Midwestern artist Cait Irwin, was a tribute to him. It showed Fridell with his banjo alongside a drum line, the Custer sign ringed by fireworks, and the beetle.

The weather meant that the logo honoring Fridell's last year as organizer went on a festival with no fire. When it called off the burn in February, the Burning Beetle Committee said it was determined to return for the next festival on January 16, 2027. In past years the burn has taken place at Pageant Park on Pageant Hill Drive, at the end of the march from the high school. Torch tickets from 2026 do not carry over to 2027, so anyone who wants to carry a torch in January will need a new one.

The variety show and the Bug Crawl went ahead last year without the fire. Whether the beetle burns on January 16 will again depend on how much snow falls between now and then and on the fire department's call that week.

Joel Hawkins and the team at Black Hills Homes & Land follow Custer's winter calendar the same way neighbors do, from the variety show through the last band at the Bug Crawl. If you're thinking about your own place in town or out in the pines this season, schedule a free consultation and we'll talk it through over coffee before January 16.