OBV’s Old West Weekend is always a real hoot and this year, Linda and I got to take my granddaughters to share in the fun. We made this a day trip, so I can’t address the whole weekend, but there was a lot going on while we were there.
Starting off on Saturday morning, we witnessed the James-Younger gang attempt to hold the bank at Northfield, Minnesota. Later in the day, the Earp brothers and Doc Holiday shot it out with the Cowboys at the OK Corral. In between, there were stagecoach rides, horse races, posses chasing down bad guys, dancing girls at the local saloon and more.
Old Bedford Village is a perfect environment for living history and the cowboy reenactors really bring it to life. Most of the buildings are utilized, giving the village a lived-in feel. This was the first time that the girls had experienced an event like this and they seemed to enjoy it immensely. While they were naturally impressed with the horses and the stagecoach. they were also highly interested in such aspects of cowboy life as baking an apple pie in a dutch oven using campfire coals and also learning rope tricks with a lariat.
The organizers in particular, go out of their way to interest and accomodate children. The children’s posse which helps root out the bankrobbers is just one example. This is a nice feature which bodes well for the future of the event. I would like to see more events of this sort in our area.
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