Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
FORT SUMNER — The old west trappings of rodeo, barbecue and, uh, tombstone racing, live on this week with the 44th iteration of “Old Fort Days” today through Sunday in Fort Sumner.
“We’ve got a whole weekend packed with family stuff,” said De Baca County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Gerald Cline. “Even though these little events are kind of winding down, even on bad years we see 1,500 to 2,000 people at the tombstone race.”
Cline referred to one of the more unique items on the schedule of coming days, the “World’s Richest Billy the Kid Tombstone Race” starting at 6 p.m. Saturday at the high school’s Fox Field. For an entry fee of $30, individuals will compete among four divisions for close to $6,000 in prizes, including a grand prize of $2,500.
The race consists of carrying an 80-pound tombstone 40 yards over two hurdles. Most people throw the tombstone over the hurdle and follow it, but “there’s always one guy who thinks he can hurdle with an 80-pound tombstone,” Cline said.
“It mimics the times that Billy the Kid’s tombstone has been stolen over the years, several times over,” he added.
That tombstone is now shackled in place, beside the Fort Sumner Chamber’s new office location.
A “Little Britches” youth version of the tombstone race is scheduled for 5 p.m. Friday at the high school’s football field. Friday, designated as “Kids Day,” also hosts children’s goat roping at 11 a.m. and a “cow plop” contest celebrating the distinctive smell of money in eastern New Mexico.
“Cow Plop” is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Friday at the north side of the Chamber of Commerce, on a plot of land divided into square foot sections that contestants can randomly purchase for $5 each. The cow, ready to make its manurial business, is let loose in the field and prizes of $500, $200 and $100 are distributed based on which three squares get fouled up the most. The concept is a bit like the game “Battleship,” but you might call it by a slightly different name.
On Friday and Saturday both, look out meanwhile for the Old West Trade Show during business hours at the high school FORT gymnasium and the Open Ranch Rodeo by night at the De Baca County Fairgrounds. A street dance runs 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday night at Fifth Street and Avenue C, while the Stateline Band takes stage at the Fairgrounds on Saturday night.
“Saturday is kind of the big day,” Cline added, noting the car show north of Village Hall from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the parade at 10 a.m., and the Dinétah Dancers from 1:30 p.m. at the Bosque Redondo Memorial. That’s not to mention the horseshoe pitching from 12:30 p.m. at Dallas Park, the 1:30 p.m. salsa contest at the high school cafeteria and the “Wiener Dog Dash” during intermission of the tombstone races.
If the concept of a dachshund race somehow gets you drooling, take note of the barbecue noon Friday at the Fort Sumner Public Library and the Masonic Lodge Cowboy Breakfast from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Saturday north of the post office.
It’s a stacked weekend, but things kick off tonight with a 7 p.m. ice-cream social “Cowboy Camp Meeting” at the Fort Sumner Community House and continue Thursday from 6:30 p.m. with the Country Western Music Night and De Baca County 4-H Style Show at the high school.
