Old West Days rides into town

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

By PJH Staff

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Sometimes known affectionately as “Cold Wet Days” for its unpredictable weather, Memorial Day weekend has always been the official kickoff to summer in Jackson Hole. After basking under warm and sunny skies for ElkFest, it looks as though this weekend’s Old West Days will, indeed, meet with cooler, wetter conditions. But that shouldn’t dampen spirits.

Breakfast and lunch will be served on the Town Square by Seip Patisserie, home of Jackson Cake Company. The parade is touted as the largest horse-drawn parade in the West. Even the vehicles pulling the floats are required to be from the 1950s or older. Add cloggers, mountain men, and Indian dancers, and Jackson has a real three-day street party come rain (gulp!) or shine.

Mason Tibbs
The practiced art of cowboy poetry was slick borne on the open range as punchers across the great American West conversed in a language all their own. From underneath bushy cowboy mustaches would pour descriptive stories of a day’s ride. The masterful ones could weave the tales into suspenseful, humorous poetry that often set up a poignant moral or a ‘kicker’ belly laugh as the payoff.

Cowboy poetry has been weaned out of the dry arroyos and brushy canyons and can now be found all slickered up at ‘gatherings’ like the ones in Elko, Nev., Arvada, Colo., and Heber City, Utah. The trailblazers in the growing genre are folk heroes like Waddie Mitchell, Baxter Black, and Paul Zarzyski.

Jackson Hole is home to one up-and-comer in the cowboy poetry field. Local Mason Tibbs, who has collected a saddlebag full of stories while tailing cows in Wyoming and Arizona, recalls every wreck and every tough spot with a cowboy brand of humor. Radio fans enjoy his yarns every Saturday morning as Tibbs hosts “Saddle Sores from a Saddle Tramp” on 103.7 The Range.

Catch Tibbs onstage on the Square at 12:35 p.m. and 4:05 p.m. on Saturday, May 24, and at 12:30 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. on Sunday, May 25.

Gunfighters galore
Entering their 52nd year, the Shootout Gang holds the unofficial claim as the longest continuously running shootout in America. The Shootout is now a pet project of the Chamber of Commerce and popular reenactment is packing them in nightly at 6 p.m. - dark on Sundays.

This season’s cast of gunfighters is under the direction of Western Heritage Exchange for the second year. Vickie Garnick has brought in a choreographer from Disney World to help shape the family-friendly free show, which runs about 25 minutes.

More hot lead will fly this weekend, as a group of quick draw professionals will stop in Jackson for Old West Days to dazzle audiences with their shooting prowess. The traveling actors are from such diverse badlands as Hollywood, Calif., Yakima, Wash., Palestine, Texas, and Oklahoma City. A few of them have had big roles in feature films and television shows like HBO’s “Deadwood” and History Channel specials. Look for them on the Town Square lawn at 2 p.m., 3:25 p.m. and 4:25 p.m. on Saturday, May 24, and 1:05 p.m., 1:50 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. on Sunday, May 25.

Photo by Kathy Erickson/JH CHAMBER
A familiar summer scene.

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Old West Days rides into town | Planet JH News Article: General Music Arts and Culture

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