Chuck Baldauskas as Buffalo Bill Cody
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West returns to Dangberg Historic Park for a third year on Saturday, Aug. 25 with festivities beginning at 2 p.m. This is the park’s final special event of the 2018 Dangberg Summer Festival.
The fundraising event, in its third year, will put this year’s focus on the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, where the world famous Ferris Wheel was unveiled on the Midway Plaisance, which is today referred to at any fair as simply the “midway.”
In celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Ferris Wheel, the park is sharing the Dangberg family association with its inventor, George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., who was the son-in-law of H.F. Dangberg Sr.
The event also highlights the fact that Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West was turned away from the exhibition by its organizer. Cody then set up his show just across the street from the fair and he became a millionaire, enjoying a higher attendance on many days than did the Columbian Exhibition.
The gate for this event will open at 1:30 p.m. with the Midway Plaisance open from 2 to 4 p.m. when Buffalo Bill’s Wild West begins, and then again from 5:30 to 7 p.m. prior to the twilight concert with Krista Jenkins.
On the Midway Plaisance guests will find refreshments and treats by local business “100 Proof” that will provide snow cones, snow cone cocktails, lemonade and lemonade cocktails. Kettle corn will also be available and more. A no-host bar with wine, cold beer, ice cold water and soft drinks will available with proceeds benefitting the non-profit Friends of Dangberg.
Games of skill and chance suitable for the entire family include: dime toss, bowling pin ring-toss, milk can-softball toss and football-hoop toss. Proceeds benefit the non-profit Friends of Dangberg
Midway vendors include but are not limited to fortune teller and psychic Madam Sandie. Authors Sandie La Nae, Karen Dustman, Stan Paher. Artisans Crochet Whimsy and Lyd’s Purple Patch, as well as Dwayne Hick’s Photography, and the Nevada Pony Express.
At 4 p.m. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West performers will take the stage. Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, the Pony Express, Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, The Foothill Vigilantes, singer-song writer Krista Jenkins, singer-song-writer Mylo McCormick, Bugler Ray Ahrenholz, Lottie Deno, Charlie Siringo and more will take you back in time to when the West was brand new. All performers will share brand new experiences as not shared in past shows.
Ticketing options include: Type A: Show Tickets Only (enjoy the midway* and music, but no dinner): $15. Type A ticket holders can arrive between 1:30 and 4:00 pm, enjoying the Midway before the show and after. They can stay for music, too, but the BBQ dinner must be purchased in advance (see type B tickets, below). We ask attendees to bring a lawn chair and enjoy the evening. No outside food or beverages will be allowed. The evening twilight concert will be performed by Krista Jenkins.
Type B: Combined Dinner and Show Tickets (also enjoy the midway* and music): $50. Type B ticket holders arrive between 1:30 and 4 p.m., enjoying the Midway before the show and/or after. Then, enjoy a BBQ dinner prepared just for you by Carson City BBQ. Stay for music, too. We ask attendees to bring a lawn chair and enjoy the evening. No outside food or beverages will be allowed. The evening twilight concert will be performed by Krista Jenkins.
Children 16 and younger may enter for free and do not need a ticket for the show and Midway. Children’s BBQ dinner cost is $25.
Event tickets can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/buffalo-bills-wild-west-august-25-2018-tickets-48455228894. For information, contact Dangberg Historic Park offices at 775-783-9417.
This event is part of the park’s Dangberg Summer Festival and is sponsored by Douglas County, Carson Valley Accounting, Full Circle Soils and Compost, Horse Tales Publications and the Frances C. and William P. Smallwood Foundation.
The full Dangberg Summer Festival event schedule is available at dangberghomeranch.org.
This is an outdoor event. Please no dogs, legitimate service animals only. The park is at 1450 Highway 88, 1/4 mile north of the Carson Valley Veterinary Hospital.