Wild West Extravaganza changes location

There will be another festival next weekend, Oct. 4, 5 and 6, celebrating the old west.

Bob Baker’s Wild West Extravaganza has been held at various times over its 13-year history. It has also changed locations, having spent most years staged in the parking lot of Saddle West. This year’s event is being held after Fall Festival, instead of before it, and the location will be Petrack Park.

Wild West Extravaganza Founder Bob Baker passed away shortly after last year’s event, leaving committee members to pick up the pieces and make yet another cohesive puzzle. WWE committtee chair Sharon Whorley said, “We’ve done this so many times that we can do it in the dark.” Whorley is a long-time active participant in the WWE event.

WWE board member Alice Eychaner said although Baker is sadly missed, “the show must go on.” And it looks like most festivities are set.

There are more vendors than ever this year. Several re-enactor specialists have joined the entertainment schedule, including Abraham Lincoln impersonator and nationally acclaimed artist William Peck, who favors Lincoln in appearance and uses the style of English common during the 1800s.

A Mark Twain impersonator will talk about his youth and the famed era of “Huckleberry Finn.” Eychaner said, “We’re making every effort for it all to be a way for kids to understand the history of Pahrump and Nevada and feel like they’re experiencing it first-hand.”

The Key Club from Pahrump Valley High School is helping with the information booth.

“Boomtown,” the replica of an old western community, will be constructed Friday, again a lively set intended to recapture the essence of the late 1800’s. All volunteers become players in costume for the weekend. Eychaner said, “Everyone is welcome to come in period costume and be ready to dance, eat, sing, participate if you want to in the games from the 1800s, and hear Mr. Lincoln speak about whether Nevada should become a state.”

The Native American Village is organized and run by the Pahrump Paiute tribe and members will be demonstrating the life of the Native Americans during the time period. Indian fry bread is always on the menu, as well as native music, dancing and games.

“It’s a good old-fashioned play day,” said Whorley. Some of the contests conducted at the stage will include crazy legs, biggest/prettiest mustache and beard competition. Other contests include egg race, sack race, find the boot race, roll a hoop and old-fashioned horse and rider games. Horshshoes is always a crowd pleaser.

“Most of us actually played these games when we were younger. We grew up in rural Nevada and these games have been handed down over time,” said Whorley.

Part of the fundrasing event is the raffle of a rifle. This year a Henry Golden Boy .22 LR lever action rifle, worth $515 is up for grabs. It is on display at WWR Sporting, LLC on Frontage Road. Tickets are $5 each or five for $20. WWR Sporting owner Walt Rubio said, “So far over half the tickets have been sold, and the drawing is on the 6th at 3 p.m.”

Rubio is heading up the Civil War reenactment this year. Rubio has been a civil war re-enactor for 25 years, and with the WWE event for eight years.

Look also for the napping of flints demonstration, a blacksmith working on his forge and showing wares, a farrier demonstrating shoeing horses, and experience a gold mining camp in “full swing” for all the would-be miners to learn old tricks.

The UNCE Master Gardeners are sponsoring a Farmer’s Market and food. There will be barbecue pulled pork sandwiches, western breakfast, lunch and dinner, and hot coffee and sodas.

To participate, contact Alice Eychaner 714-323-5348; demonstrate period craft or are a re-enactor, contact Paula Elefante, 775-209-3444.