Holy Crap ladies and gentleman, where has the summer gone!!

I can’t believe another edition of the Days of ‘76 has already come and gone. The event in 86th year was better than ever this year. I really love the event because when something’s been around for 86 years all your old friends want to come back because they remember the event when they were kids. It’s always good to see old friends, watch a couple terrific parades and one of the best rodeos in the nation. I want to say good job to the entire Days of ‘76 Committee and all the volunteers who made the event happen.

Now it’s time to bring on the bikers! The noise, the leather, the people, the boobs. It’s all a part of the Sturgis Rally and Races and Deadwood is right in the heart of the action. Being only 12 miles away from Sturgis and having a reputation as a party town, we get to enjoy the sights and sounds for about 10 straight days. I spoke last year how the people complaining about the crowds or the noise should just sit back and enjoy your fellow residents making a darn good living off our very special guests. I for one, working for a chamber of commerce appreciate every single biker. You are always welcome in Deadwood.

I’ll be sitting on the Veranda enjoying the crowds many nights next week. Hope to see you all there.

Until next time. Keep your boots clean.
George

Hello again everyone. It’s the beginning of June and that means we here in Deadwood stuff absolutely everything possible into the next three and a half months of summer.

If it ever stops raining, (I’m turning into my father, constantly bitching about the weather) Wild Bill Hickok Days will kick off the summer June 13-15. I really enjoy this event because number one, people are ready to be outside and enjoy Deadwood for what it is….a party town. And number two; I get to see all my old friends back in town for the summer.

It’s Wild West. We host the Cowboy Fast Draw Championships with literally the fastest guns in the world competing for thousands of dollars in prize money. It can be a little weird. We host the first annual “Hippity Hop Horse Races” in which people ride air filled horses down Main Street to raise money for Relay for Life.

But it really is fun for the whole family. (Was it the Slinky that was fun for the whole family? Or was the Slinky fun for a girl and a boy?) Sorry, getting off subject a bit. We are also hosting the first annual Deadwood Fiddler Competition and host a free street dance on Friday night featuring the band Groove Daddy.

Saturday and Sunday we’ll have free concerts with some really cool music. We’ve got local favorite Brock Finn who plays everything from Johnny Cash to Elvis. He always asks me what song I want to hear and then plays something else……it’s hilarious (to Brock!). We have a great new country band called the Drew Davis Band and an old favorite to the area, Dustin Evans and Good Times.

Our headliners this year couldn’t be further apart musically but literally appeal to people of all ages. Saturday night we have the great Tommy Tutone. I don’t know a single person I’ve ever met who hasn’t heard and doesn’t love “867-5309 Jenny”. Can’t wait to hear a few thousand people singing “Jenny, Jenny, who do I turn to!” Should be a great night.

Sunday we have one of country music’s most popular bands, Lonestar hitting the stage at 2:30pm to help us celebrate Father’s Day. They’ll play all the hits including “I Pray”, “Amazed”, “Front Porch Looking In”, “Tequila Talking” and “No News” just to name a few.

So there you have it. The first big event of the year is just around the corner. If you get a chance, come on up and say hi during our annual Wild Bill Hickok Days, June 13-15 in historic Deadwood.

Until next time. Keep your boots clean…..and I’ll be watching the weather channel, chasing the neighbor kids off my lawn.

George

Well I had to open my big mouth. “It was 75 in Deadwood yesterday,” “I’m thinking about all the great things to do in Deadwood during the summer”. Why on earth do I jinx myself each and every year?

Of course just a short period of time after I wrote my last post, we received four feet of snow in Deadwood. You heard me right. Four feet of snow!!! Do I sound angry? Can you tell by my tone that I’ve had it with winter? You are correct. I’ve had it with the snow. I KNOW we need the moisture, but in my 41 years I’ve never, ever shoveled rain.

My arms hurt, I think I pulled a butt muscle and I have a headache. And that’s just from drinking beer and watching TV the whole time. Not to mention the pain from shoveling four feet of heavy wet snow. Now that I’ve vented a bit, I feel a little better. Everyone knows that’s what you get when you live in the Black Hills.

I’ve heard so many good snowstorm stories over the years it’s just very funny how everyone gets by. One good story dates back quite a few years. Over 20 to be sure. This was an early season storm, probably November. Three “old timers” from Lead (just three miles up the road) were out deer hunting and got caught in the snow. Back in the day, the “old timers” usually had plenty to drink when they were out hunting. (I know, not the epitome of safety, but hey, they’re “old timers”) At any rate, they got their truck stuck in a good sized drift. They decided to walk for help and within an hour they were picked up by a group of hunters who took them into town safe and sound.

Two days later when the snow subsided, the “old timers” decided they should probably head out and retrieve their truck. The only problem was they were so inebriated when they were picked up, they didn’t quite remember where their truck was stuck. To make a long story short, they searched for their truck for over a month when a Forest Service employee finally came across the truck, ran the plates and gave them a call.

In the mean time, a couple of squirrels decided to make the truck thier home and the inside of the truck was completely full of pine cones.

I love that story and it comes with a good moral. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t hunt and drink. And be very wary of squirrels.

It’s 65 degrees in Deadwood today. The snow is melting and things are looking up.

Until next time. Keep your boots clean.

George

Hello again everyone. Just wanted to give everyone an update on what’s happening in Deadwood.

It was 75 degrees and I’ve never NOT wanted to work more than I did yesterday. All it did was remind me of how much fun this area is during the summer months.

If you folks reading this aren’t from around here, there are several things us “locals” do during the summer months. Some of the great things about living in Deadwood in the summer include:

Sitting on the Veranda above the Franklin Hotel staring up at White Rocks. (It does not get much better than that). Especially when Kenan is bartending.

Sitting outside at the Stockade & listen to Yancey sing and insult almost everyone who walks in the door.

Sitting on top of the #10 Saloon and having a great dinner.

Or just sit outside Mustang Sally’s and watch the tourists.

I also really enjoy the strange characters, dressed in costumes that tend to show up during the summer months. There are many characters that are hired by Deadwood Alive that perform shootouts and the Trial of Jack McCall each summer, but these are folks who come to town claiming to be a descendant of Wild Bill or Calamity Jane. Apparently, our famous characters had a LOT of relatives.

I thoroughly enjoy old people with long shorts and their socks pulled all the way up, so just their knees are getting sun. I’ve never actually seen a naked old person with a “farmer’s knee tan” and don’t care if I do. I’m sure I’ll see it for myself when I’m that age.

There really is nothing better than walking the Mickelson Trail during the summer months. Any portion of the trail will offer some of the best scenery anywhere.

Taking a drive through Spearfish Canyon and having breakfast at Cheyenne Crossing. What a great location, with good food and really nice people.

There are so many great things to do in Deadwood and the Black Hills during the summer I can’t even scratch the surface, but believe me when it is 75 in April I sure get the “fever”. Too bad, we’ll still probably get another snow storm before it truly turns to summer.

When that happens, you’ll read a blog entitled “Things that p%@s me off about living in Deadwood in April”. Man, I hope I’m not writing that one next week!

Until next time, keep your boots clean.

George

Hello again everyone. Can you believe summer is just around the corner? Not that you can tell around here. March is one of those months in Deadwood where there is a blizzard at one moment and five minutes later it’s blue sky and 60 degrees.

This is the time of year where as a resident of Deadwood you really get Spring Fever. There is so much to do in the Black Hills during the summer months, you just want it to get here. I want to sit on the Veranda above the Franklin Hotel and have a beer. I want to go fly-fishing in Spearfish Canyon. I want to hit the links and I want to walk the Mickelson Trail. I actually miss the shoot-outs every day on Main Street and I miss Yancey playing music and insulting people at the Stockade.

It’s funny because as a resident you would think many of these things would get boring. It’s amazing but they don’t. Every summer I drive through Custer State Park and by Mt. Rushmore. I don’t actually stop at Mt. Rushmore but drive the needles highway and wave at the faces as I pass by. Deadwood and the Black Hills are simply one of the greatest places to live anywhere, and I enjoy all they have to offer as much as possible.

Not that I don’t enjoy shoveling snow or scraping ice off of car windows….wait, I really do hate those things. Come on summer get here already. My back is starting to hurt.

Until next time, keep your boots clean.

George

Hello again everyone! I know I spoke about Deadwood’s Mardi Gras in my last post but now that I’ve fully recovered from the festivities I want to once again mention how much fun that event has become.

It never ceases to amaze me what people will do for a five cent set of beads. Why is it that the people who are most enthusiastic about receiving said beads would scare the hell out of most anybody in a dark alley? At any rate, it’s always fun to see 10,000 people in our little town having the time of their lives.

Speaking of good times. Deadwood’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration is just around the corner. This is an event that was started by the great Deadwood Irishman, Bill Walsh who owned the Historic Franklin Hotel at the time. Nobody in town would get behind the event so he had a parade that consisted of him, a friend playing the harmonica and his dog. Even though it was in the middle of a snowstorm, people actually showed up and the event received a lot of press. Obviously, the town got behind it and it’s been a great event ever since.

This year’s event features a Deadwood Pub Crawl and Poker Run on Saturday, March 15. We tried the Pub Crawl last year and I made a bet with our main sponsor Budweiser that we wouldn’t have 70 people sign up. We ended up with nearly 600 people entered. That little bet cost me a case of beer, but just to be a jerk I bought him a case of Coors Light. This year we will be much more organized with four Pub Crawls with a maximum of 50 people in each group. We will also offer a non-alcoholic Pub Crawl and Poker Runs to businesses that don’t sell alcohol.

Monday, March 17 will be our annual Deadwood St. Patrick’s Day parade at 7pm. As with previous years, past Grand Marshall’s will throw out over $1,000 in redeemable $1 tokens along the parade route. We will also host several floats and the amazing Wyoming Pipe and Drum bagpipe group.

If you’re in the area, try to stop up and join us in the festivities.

P.S. In case anyone was wondering, I did see a set of breasts during Mardi Gras. I glanced across the street and saw a fat guy named Brad with his shirt up. Lucky me.

Until next time, keep your boots clean.

The Deadwood Chamber’s first major event of the year is in the books and boy what a party! Deadwood’s annual Mardi Gras celebration did not disappoint this year with over 10,000 people in attendance. The first night of festivities was on Thursday night with the crowning of the King and Queen. April Raber and Greg Glodt representing the Silverado/Franklin were named 2008 King and Queen by a large and boisterous crowd. I couldn’t think of two nicer people to represent the City of Deadwood for our annual Mardi Gras celebration….and they did a great job.

Friday night we offered the People’s Parade, inviting anyone and everyone to join us and we had a good crowd show up. But as usual Saturday’s parade of lights was huge. We had a record 25 floats entered and 10,000 people crowding Main Street for a chance at over 100,000 sets of beads.

All in all it was a great weekend and is still one of my favorite events. We don’t have a whole lot of time to relax however because Chinese New Year is March 7 & 8 and St. Patrick’s Day takes place on March 15th and 17th. More on those next week.

Until then. Keep your boots clean.

What is Deadwood VERY good at? Throwing a party! Each year, the Deadwood Chamber hosts many events that draw hundreds of thousands of people to town. We hope 2008 will be no exception. We’ve got some great ideas for some new events and terrific additions to our existing events.

The year kicks off with one of my favorites, Mardi Gras, February 1 & 2. We started this event as a small little party in a couple of bars throughout Deadwood, but it has since turned into a two-day event with nearly 15,000 people in attendance. We’ll crown a King and Queen of Mardi Gras, host a New Orleans’ style Wake and of course have our annual Parade of Lights on Saturday.

It has been 55 degrees, it has rained, it has been 5 below zero and it has snowed. But we’ve never not had our Mardi Gras parade. I’ve seen naked fat guys and lots of pretty ladies. I’ve fallen off a float and broken an ice sculpture at the Saloon #10. Each year I watch as over 20,000 sets of beads are thrown out along the parade route and every year it just gets better and better. Just keep me off a float and away from any ice sculptures and I’m golden!

In future blogs I’ll talk about the rest of the event schedule but in the meantime here is our 2008 official schedule of events. Believe me; we’ll be adding events in the future…..but until next time, try to keep your boots clean.

March 17 – St. Patrick’s Day – Celebrate the Irish with this annual event that features a Pub Crawl, Irish music and the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. Past Grand Marshall’s will be throwing out over $1,000 in redeemable St. Patrick’s Day tokens all along the parade route.

March 29 – Spring Fling/Citizen of the Year – Join the Deadwood Elk’s Club and the Deadwood Chamber for our annual Citizen of the Year awards. This second annual event will feature a free concert and dance featuring the Abbey Road Band and DD and the Fayroh’s while we honor Deadwood’s best and brightest. Admission is only two cans of food for the local food bank.

June & 8 - Mickelson Trail Marathon – Join us for one of the most beautiful and scenic marathons in the world. The Mickelson Trail Marathon draws thousands of runners each year as contestants run through the heart of the Black Hills of South Dakota.

June 13 – 15 - Wild Bill Hickok Days - Get ready to kick off summer with the annual Wild Bill Hickok Days celebration. There is literally something for everyone at this Wild West event. We’ll feature the World Cowboy Fast Draw Championships, Gun Spinning exhibitions and Wild West Reenactors throughout town. Plus we’ll have two days of absolutely FREE concerts with major national acts right on Main Street.

July 22 – 27 - The Days of ’76 - This is truly the “Best Rodeo. No Bull”. The Days of ’76 has been named Mid-Size Outdoor Rodeo of the Year by the PRCA cowboys in 2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007. Over 80 years old, come find out why the Days of ’76 is the Black Hills premier event. We’ll have five days of action packed PRCA rodeo action, two days of free parades and much, much more. Call 1-888-838-BULL for rodeo tickets.

August 21 – 24 - Kool Deadwood Nites - Relive the 50’s and 60’s with this four-day event that features over 600 classic cars with parades, show and shines, classic car auction and two days of FREE concerts featuring the finest in national entertainers.

September 12 & 13 - The Deadwood Jam - Enjoy two days of the very best rock, country, reggae and blues music on one stage in our historic city September 12 & 13. The event continues to grow and has fast become the Black Hills’ largest music festival. For tickets call Black Hills Central Reservations at 578-7702 or 888-838-2855.

October 2 & 3 – Oktoberfest – Join us as we celebrate Oktoberfest, “Deadwood Style”. We’ll have live German music, free food, dancing and the now famous Weiner Dog Races. Bring the family and join us for all the great activities.

October 25 - Deadweird – It’s spooky, it’s creepy, but most of all its very funny. A city-wide costume contest takes place with big cash prizes.

Here we go again!! I can’t believe the holidays are just around the corner. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I don’t know about your families but my memories of extremely dysfunctional holidays still make me smile. We’ve all seen “Hollywood’s” version of the holidays on television. From the Cosby show to Law and Order, everyone seems to come together on the holidays.

Really? Families really come together like that? I don’t mean to be skeptical and believe me, I LOVE my holiday memories. I had more fun and have more great stories during the holidays but believe me when I say we didn’t have mom walking out with a whole turkey and everyone bursting into applause.

One of my family’s favorite stories is when I was very young one of my uncles showed up at our house during deer season with a buck he had just shot. (This is South Dakota people, deer hunting is a reality)…. I walked outside, stared at that beautiful creature and asked my uncle where he got it. I remember him looking down at me with a very serious look on his face and simply saying “from Santa’s sleigh”. My family likes to say that he went on for several minutes explaining that he was aiming at Donner because he ate his hay, but accidentally shot Blitzen. I guess I was initially shocked, but took it pretty well and even at that early age, I knew my uncle was a little off.

I guess what I’m saying is that the holidays are what you make of them. Whether your drunken second cousin knocks over the Christmas tree or you have a traditional holiday….. It’s all about family and friends, good or bad. Every year there are deaths in families, divorce and families splitting apart. But hopefully there is a family member or a friend that will be there to help pick up the pieces.

The thing is, we all have someone in our family that may embarrass us at times but when you look across the table at Uncle Chuck with gravy all over his shirt, remember how lucky you are that you are able to be with family and friends in a warm house….. with crazy Uncle Chuck.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and I’ll talk to you soon.

Until then, keep your boots clean.

Well another Halloween has come and gone and our annual Deadweird Costume Contest was better than ever with over 250 people competing to win cash and prizes. As usual there was the basic to the extremely complicated costumes with my personal favorites being the funny.

Hometown girl Rachel Hanna of Deadwood took home the $1,000 first prize with her Elvis and baby Elvis costume while second place went to Mike Powding of Rapid City and his Midget Goblin. Cindy Wheeler of Casper, Wyoming took home third place and $250 for her version on the Amityville Horror. Special awards including best group went to the Lollipop Gang, Medusa was the scariest and funniest was Michael Jackson. All in all it was a great event and I want to thank everyone who participated, we hope to see you next year. Check out some photos from this year’s competition at http://www.deadwood.org/PhotoGallery/PhotoAlbumPreDetail3543.cfm?SubCategoryId=42.

Speaking of photos. We have a new feature on our website that allows you to upload your favorite Deadwood photos. We hope all of you give it a try and enjoy the photos that will be coming in. Just click here and fill out the form and upload your photos. http://www.deadwood.org/PhotoGallery/PhotoAlbumUpload3543.cfm

Thats about it for now, I’ll be chatting about dysfunctional holidays next week.

Until then keep your boots clean