Tonopah celebrates Jim Butler Days in central Nevada
The Town of Tonopah celebrated the annual Jim Butler Days with a parade down Main Street on May 27.
The 47th Butler Days honors Tonopah’s founder, Jim Butler, and celebrates the town’s history from May 22 through May 29.
The parade was a featured event in the town with multiple participants, including law enforcement, the local fire department, the Rainbow Girls and the Hasana-Tribal fusion dancers.
Events started May 22 and ran through Memorial Day, May 29. A street dance with live music was featured the evening prior to the parade.
As the story goes, Jim Butler discovered the deposits of ore in the area of Tonopah Springs in 1900.
The town of Butler was renamed Tonopah in 1905 and the mines around the town produced almost $750,000 in gold and silver in 1901, and for the next 40 years, according to the town’s history records.
Jim Butler Days put an emphasis on the town’s mining past as mining championships took place throughout the week.
Officials awarded silver shovels and hammers to the champion muckers and drillers in the women’s competition at the Nevada State Mining Championships in Tonopah’s Historic Mining Park.
The arm wrestling and Nevada state mining championships bring people from most of the western states.
For more, go to jimbutlerdays.tonopahnevada.com.
