Shaniko Days

2012 Press Release
Community fundraising activities are not always easy to create in these harder economic times and sustaining annual events, such as Shaniko Days is difficult as well. Themed events have to be maintained by a committed staff to bring about the activities that the community and visitors expect each year. So far, Shaniko has managed to have certain items on it’s schedule that can

be counted on again this August 3-5, 2012.

“Everyone loves a parade.” That is the first activity on the first Saturday in August each year in Shaniko. Looking through a stack of flyers from as far back as 1996, it started at 11 am. For the last several years it has started at 10 but it does at 10 “Shaniko time”. I have been lining up the parade for quite a few years now and there is just no way there is a line up of people, animals, and vehicles ready to go by 10 am. Shaniko is graced by the Wasco County Sheriff’s Posse each year that also act as the color guard. We learned recently that Shaniko is the only place Sheriff Eiesland rides in a parade with the posse. But it isn’t because of our old west flavor it is because our parade route is so short! So if you are looking for a parade you can dress up in the spirit of a pioneer and be able to walk the full length of, or cat nap before it starts after you have driven a while to get here, ours is just the thing! Right after the parade is a performance of long standing tradition. Only one time in 25 years has the Mud Springs Gospel Band not performed and delighted Shaniko’s visitors. We look forward to seeing them this year to start off a hoped for second set of twenty-five years of Shaniko Days. At high noon, a gunfighter showdown, sets the stage for the food. The beef swiftly out of the pit from slow baking in the earth for 10 hours, gets served with yummy fixings. This part of the event is the major fundraiser for the City of Shaniko. Several years it has been for the volunteer fire department needs. About three years ago the volunteer crew had to go out just before BBQ time and help local ranchers put out a nearby blaze. Visiting reenactors helped out serving the food and enjoyed seeing the faces of those they had come to town for the weekend to entertain. One other group that has made the famed ghost town as lively a place as any is the Sunshine Exchange Cloggers. The girls and occasional guy have not missed any year and according to leader Loy, would not miss being in Shaniko. This year on Saturday they will perform at 2 pm right in the center of downtown! Dancing just might be this years theme as many children and teens will be sharing Native American, Mexican, and Tahitian offerings. Raffles, a cake walk, and vendors have been consistent activities throughout the years. In the past, the scheduled variations that have come and gone have been a circus, dunk tanks, horseshoe contests, auctions, and other special music and historic talks. Some acted as draws, some were a bust. But in the event process you just never know till you try something. The big day of the event (Saturday) finishes with a dance either in the street, the school and on rare occasions in the old wool warehouse. This August dancing will be possible DJ style but a “Shaniko’s Got Talent” will also be featured in the old schoolhouse. The invitation stands for anyone to come and share their special ability beginning at 8 pm. My conclusion is the drawing card to Shaniko Days is fun things happening in a unique and old western setting. What is here every day is enhanced when so many visitors come to town for a festive weekend. Though the three-day event had more to offer on both sides of Saturday when there was lodging, it still works well as the Friday traveling traffic discover the event passing through to somewhere else and the gunfighters and late arriving vendors converge to gather at the flaming pit … the pit where the savory and succulent donated beef goes in the ground in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Sunday begins the wind down and the travelers again stop and get a taste of what they missed vowing to return next year.
2011 entry below. Shaniko Days was the established celebration of that system and has continued for twenty -five years, this August 5-7, 2011. Originally called “Old Shaniko Days” in the early 1970’s, it was a fundraiser for the hopes and dreams that were dashed by the failing water system in the later years of that decade. That would be another story. The Shaniko Days event has struggled for lack of lodging the last few years when multi-millionaire, R.B. Pamplin Jr. closed his hotel and RV business in 2008 when he could not secure the separation of his properties to a private water system. Even with this latest Shaniko water “woe” that created a lot of bad press and falsehoods about the town being, “owned by Pamplin”, “closed”, “out of water”, “bad water”, operating with “wheezing wooden water pipes”, and on and on and on, a renewed interest in a town whose majority are determined to float one boat, not two ships sailing in opposing directions is occurring. The press did not ever write that water reports for years have continually showed good water managed by the city and the occasional slowing of the springs in the heat of summer has never failed. Equipment has failed. During the 2005 fire that swept through the northern part of the city, the water system continued to supply truck after truck, hundreds of gallons at a time for hours during the hottest and most marginal months for the springs, August. In spite of the lack of lodging and formal café food service, a new type of visitor comes for the Shaniko Days event: the camping type and lots of people making day trips to the area. Camping is free along the streets of Shaniko. Consistent fixtures of the event are the parade, pit BBQ, raffles, cake walk, a grand raffle prize (this year there two a $300 gift card to spend anywhere and a beautiful, made in Shaniko, quilted throw!), vendors, entertainment, reenactors, and a dance. The Sunshine Exchange Cloggers have been coming every year for the last twenty-four and will be here this Saturday, August 6th, 2011. The Mud Springs Gospel Band has only missed one year in all that time and this year the band will be represented by one member, Don Mobley, doing some Roger Miller tunes. The rest of the band will be with the town in spirit. Parade Grand Marshals will be Verne and Pat Mobley. Pat was Shaniko postmistress for many years. To add to the family “reunion”, Pat and Verne’s sons, Mark and Ron are with Countryfied and will play for the Saturday evening street dance. This year the schedule, still has the most offered on Saturday, which makes a daytrip well worth the time. But adding new elements to the Shaniko Days weekend is the coal forge blacksmith, Jeff Botts of Welches, the Oregon State Wagon Train from Milton-Freewater, the Grizzly Mountain Long Rifles out of Prineville, a railroad program by Jerry Tanquist of the Wasco County Historical Society at Shaniko’s historic and restored schoolhouse, Author Ava Wilson (The Driftwood Diaries), and Native American dancing and flute music by the Buffalo Writers. Ava Wilson and the Buffalo Writers are Saturday afternoon only. Cowboy Church will be offered at 10am Sunday morning at the school. Six of the new twelve mural project scheduled to be on display throughout the town by season’s end are now located in the downtown area. They are short and sweet history lessons (some blanks this story has left for you to discover) on 4 ft by 10 ft. panels, Three, “Why Settle A Desert”, “Sheep and Sheepmen”, and “The Train Is Coming” are located on the north side of the fire hall. The other three feature themes about the Townsite Company, Incorporation, and Transportation. Funding for free standing framework will be secured and designed later to hold some of the panels now on historic structures or that will be in areas that once had sites of historic significance. Antelope has a Friday Market in the park across the street from the café with quality crafted goods, organic food and baked things, etc. The Antelope Café is only 8 miles away for a sit down meal. Come and visit Shaniko Days where you can relax, retreat, and remember. For more information call 1-541-489-3446, vendors welcome only $25 for the weekend!