Tonopah celebrates Jim Butler Days in central Nevada
Staff Report
Melissa Roberts/Times-Bonanza
Members of a color guard are shown on May 27 during the annual Jim Butler Days parade. Butler Days helps showcase Tonopah’s rich history, including as a mining town.
Melissa Roberts/Times-Bonanza
The local fire department took part May 27 in the annual Jim Butler Days parade down Main Street in downtown Tonopah as part of Jim Butler Days. The special event celebrates Tonopah and its rich history.
Melissa Roberts/Times-Bonanza
An SUV with Nevada Highway Patrol moves down Main Street in downtown Tonopah on May 27 during the annual Jim Butler Days parade. The parade is a highlight during Butler Days, which spans a week.
Melissa Roberts/Times-Bonanza
An ATV, which displays the American flag, moves down Main Street on May 27 in downtown Tonopah. The parade is part of the Jim Butler Days celebration. Butler Days celebrates Tonopah and its rich history/
Melissa Roberts/Times-Bonanza
The Hasana-Tribal fusion dancers are shown during the parade in the downtown parade on May 27 during Jim Butler Days. A performance by Hasana group members is an annual part of the parade in Tonopah during Butler Days.
Melissa Roberts/Times-Bonanza
Members of the motorcycle unit of the Nye County Sheriff’s Office is shown in action during the annual Jim Butler Days parade on May 27 in downtown Tonopah. The parade featured a wide variety of entrants, including public safety representatives.
Melissa Roberts/Times-Bonanza
The Rainbow girls ride in a float during a parade at Jim Butler Days on May 27 in downtown Tonopah. The parade is a featured event during the annual event that showcases Tonopah and its history.
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.
