WELCOME TO PINE BLUFF TRAIL DAYS

Pine Bluffs Trail Days
The “Daddy of ‘em all” is over but the fun goes on. Pine Bluffs Trail Days is going on now! When: Through Aug. 6.
Aug. 4
4-7 p.m.: Texas Trail Market Burger Feed. $2.
7 p.m.: Double Bar G Co. Rodeo, softball/arena complex, Second and Beech streets. $7/adults, $5/students and seniors, $3/6-12.
9 p.m.: Street dance. Sixth and Parsons street.
Aug. 5
Longhorn Stampede 1 mile, 5K walk/run. Registration ends today. Community Center. $10 and $12. Call Sonja Fornstrom at 245-3301.
9:30 a.m.: Kids' Parade, Main Street. Call 245-9211.
10 a.m.: NASCAR Simulator, Pal's Pub parking lot. $10.
Barbecue in the park and kids' games. $2.
11 a.m.-1 p.m. Book signing with authors Kevin, Charlotte and Sarah Endorf. Blue Sky Coffee Company, 322 Main St. Call 245-3939.
1 p.m.: Teenage Rodeo. $5/adults, $2/12 and younger. Entries close Tuesday. Call 245-3746.
1 p.m.: Horseshoe Tournament. Reher Park. $5. Call Brian Andreas at 630-7357.
9 p.m.: Street dance. Sixth and Parsons street.
Aug. 6
7:30-9 a.m.: Community Cowboy Church and free breakfast. Community Center.
11 a.m.: Coed Mud Volleyball Tournament. $25/team. Entry deadline 4 p.m. Aug. 4. Call 245-3301.
1 p.m.: Jack Pot/Fun Shoot. Singles, doubles, sporting clays. Call Kent Shook at 649-2278.
Daily Wednesday through Aug. 6
Texas Trail Museum, Third & Market streets. 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
High Plains Archeological Museum, 211 Elm St. 9 a.m.-noon & 1-5 p.m.
Pine Bluffs Dig Site Tours, 1001 Muddy Greek Drive. 9 a.m.-noon & 1-5 p.m. Closed during parade.
Open swimming at the Pine Bluffs Pool. 1-5 p.m. $1 a person. Call 245-3783.
Jane Baker, director of the Pine Bluff's Trail Days Melodrama, said she likes the traditional small town event because it's family oriented.
"When my children were younger we could bring them to the street dance," Baker said. "There are a lot of things that kids and adults can do together as a family."
Wednesday through Aug. 6 is the 56th annual celebration with two rodeos, parades, a melodrama, fun physical activities from mud volleyball, a 5/K run and walk and summertime food favorites like a large barbecue and a hamburger feed.
Sonja Fornstrom is the chairman of the Trail Days committee.
She said Trail Days is a time for people to reunite.
"A lot of times graduating classes from Pine Bluffs have individual reunions and there are family reunions going on," Fornstrom said. "It's a fun time to be in Pine Bluffs."
Two new events this year are a National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing simulator at Pal's Pub's parking lot and a booksigning with Kevin, Charlotte and Sarah Endorf at Blue Sky Coffee Company.
Trail Days kicks off Wednesday with a supper and program featuring Jerry Teske and the Trailriders, a folk quartet that performs Western songs.
The Trail Days Melodrama is Aug. 3-4. The actors and director are from Pine Bluffs.
Trails Days has always had a melodrama, Baker said.
This year's melodrama, "The Villain Wore a Dirty Shirt" or "Always Wash Your Longjohns 'Cause it Makes a Lotta Cents," is by Tim Kelly.
"I've never directed a melodrama, but I've done costumes for Pine Bluffs High School drama and this melodrama before," Baker said.
The show is about a gold diggers town called Dig A Little Deeper, Baker said.
"It's about a laundry with your normal villain and sweetheart," she said.
Aug. 4 at 4 p.m. is the Texas Trail Market Burger Feed at the grocery store followed at 7 p.m. by the first Double Bar G Company Rodeo.
In the past, it's been called the Outlaw Saloon Rodeo Series.
Street dances will be Aug. 4-5 at 9 p.m. at Sixth and Parsons streets.
On Aug. 5 the Longhorn Stampede 5/K Run or Walk takes place in the morning.
"It's the sixth year that it has been done," Fornstrom said. "We have awards for 16 different divisions - eight male and female age divisions. Participants get a free T-shirt to walk or run it."
First place in each division wins a $25 gift certificate.
The kids' parade is at 9:30 a.m. with the adult parade at 10 a.m. on Aug. 5.
Kids can parade their bikes, walk their dogs or whatever they want to do, said Fornstrom.
She said the adult parade is like Halloween and they have bags full of candy with a meal and kids' games after at the park.
"Things are started at the arena later for the teen rodeo," Fornstrom said. "It's a family-oriented time. We provide activities that families can do altogether."
The afternoon of Aug. 5 there's a horseshoe tournament.
Fornstrom said the Trail Days committee runs the Teen Rodeo.
Buckles are given if participants win the junior and senior all-around cowboy and cowgirl titles. Winners in each event receive a buckle plus jackpot payoffs, Fornstrom said.
Events at the Teen Rodeo range from boys' goat tying and break-away roping for those 6-10 years old, to steer wrestling and bull riding for the older participants.
" has always had a Teen Rodeo," Dema Gilbert said.
Gilbert said perhaps some of the participants will become Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo contestants someday.
"We usually have around 100 entrants," Gilbert said. "It's a nice sized rodeo. We have new bleachers this year in the Pine Bluffs Arena/Ballpark Complex. The bleachers were purchased by the specific purpose sixth penny tax."
Gilbert's favorite event is rodeo.
"It has been my family way of life," she said.
Things wrap up on Aug. 6 with Cowboy Church, a mud volleyball tournament and Jack/Pot Fun Shooting.
Pastor Dan DeBryun will preach at the Cowboy Church service. The pancake breakfast that follows will be served by the mayor and city council of Pine Bluffs.
This is the 14th year for Coed Mud Volleyball. Team members must be 16 and older and the entry fee is $25 a team.
"It's one of the favorite events," Fornstrom said. "You get to get out there and get dirty, get your friends dirty and play a sport that everyone loves. Kids play in the mud."
There also is a Jackpot Fun Shoot at the Pine Bluffs Shooting Range with singles, doubles and sporting clays.

You can’t have more fun than that. I am so looking forward to the Coed Mud Volleyball event. As long as I just get to watch! Se you there.