Gold Rush Days

Sidney residents and visitors had an opportunity to step back in time last weekend as the 13th annual Gold Rush Days was held at the American Legion Park.

Gold Rush Days is a three-day celebration of Sidney's history when gold was discovered in the Black Hills in the 1870s and the city's railroad was instrumental in its transportation to Deadwood, S.D.

"This became the shortest, and best, route to Deadwood," local historian Gordy Wilkins said. "And it stayed that way until 1881."

Wilkins provided history information to attendees throughout Gold Rush Days.

"I volunteer," Wilkins said. "What I've done is I've taken from Paxton, Nebraska to the state line, and I'm covering all the history in that area on the trails."

The annual Gold Rush Days event began in 2003 in a narrow stretch near the park's Memorial Gardens area before moving to a wider stretch near the baseball fields. Vendor participated steadily grew through the years, with this year featuring more than 25 booths, with services ranging from food to games to goods for sell.

The celebration kicked off Friday with a handful of vendors and live entertainment as attendees were invited to bring their own hot dogs and marshmallows around the campfire.

Saturday was the busy day, starting early with breakfast for attendees who purchased a badge for the event, followed by a flag ceremony led by members of the Colorado Trailblazers before getting into the day's festivities.

The Colorado Trailblazers returned later on throughout the day to performed a handful of skits, about 15 minutes in length. The group, comprised of Rick and Pam Feler along with Tim and Jackie Matz, have been a staple of Gold Rush Days for the past ten years.

"It's been a while," Rick Feler said.

Live music from acts such as the Aspen County Band and the High Horses Band gave the event a soundtrack as attendees enjoyed themselves. World champion trick roper Joan Wells also performed on the main stage and spent some time teaching children some tricks after her show.

Throughout the weekend's festivities, attendees were also able to observe crafting demonstrations, including coopering, blacksmithing, tanning, sewing and even panhandling.

Ken Geu has been showing his coopering skills during Gold Rush Days for about three years. He said he is always excited to come out to the annual event.

"It's a lot of fun," Geu said. "I'm so busy restoring a house and doing practical woodworking, so it's a joy to be able to come out here and just not have the scream of the table saw. I can just sit here quietly and whittle away."

Shane Jones has served as the blacksmith demonstrator for the past four years, but has been attending Gold Rush Days since he moved from Utah to Sidney about a decade ago.

"I've always had an interest (in blacksmithing) since I was a teenager," Jones said. "But it wasn't until I moved out here that I had a little garage space to set up."

Jones said the setup he uses in his demonstrations, which include a forge, anvil and coal box, belonged to his grandfather.

"And the only thing we ever used it for was docking tails on lambs," he said. "I mean, he might have used it before for other than that, but I didn't know."

Jones said the first thing he made using the setup was a dagger crafted from an old file.

"And you can still see some of the teeth on there," he said. "And some of the tempering, you can still see on it. I probably should have tempered it a little bit softer.

"That's the trick, though. That's where the real magic happens. Anybody can get steel hot and hammer it, but learning the magic behind the tempering process is where it is."

For his demonstration, Jones said he never has anything in mind when he starts.

"I'm just making whatever feel right," he said. "And then I'll probably put whatever it is into the auction later on."

Even with high temperatures through the weekend, with Friday and Saturday hitting the mid-90 degrees, turnout was steady for Gold Rush Days.

Gold Rush Days concluded Sunday with a morning church service featuring old-time hymns before vendors packed up their booths for another year.