By Tori White | Southwest Ledger
DUNCAN — From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 22, Chisholm Trail Heritage Center will hold their annual National Day of the Cowboy celebration. This will be the museum’s 13th year hosting the event.
The free event is designed to showcase Oklahoma’s cowboy legacy and offer insight on some lesser-known pioneers.
“We love celebrating National Day of the Cowboy with our community members,” said Leah Mulkey, assistant director of Chisholm Trail Heritage Center. “Seeing our community show up to support the legacy and cultures we work hard to preserve is rewarding and exciting.”
Docent Blakeleigh Delgado said, “It is a chance to learn about the diversity of the cowboys, their legacy in popular culture, a way to acknowledge the grueling lives they led on a cattle drive and dissect truth from myth in the often-romanticized American West.”
This year’s event is to feature a hefty lineup.
“The Wild Boys,” a group of Black cowboys, will kick off the day’s festivities by demonstrating rope tricks and other cowboys skills.
Musicians Gaylon Blankenship and Missy Frye will follow with a musical performance.
Local authors and retired Comanche Elementary School teachers Marilyn Kay Brooks and Marilyn Kay Pineda, known jointly as “Marilyn Kay,” will read from their recently published children’s book “The Train of Make Believe.”
Oklahoma author E. Joe Brown will read from his novel “A Cowboy’s Destiny.”
Oklahoma State University’s Miss American Indian 2023 Shaeleigh McGee will exhibit the Chickasaw art of beading.
Guests may partake in arts and crafts, including a children’s art project sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Commission and National Endowment for the Arts.
Chisholm Trail Heritage Center opened in the late 1990s, providing an interactive look at cowboy life and culture.
Admission includes access to the museum’s regular exhibits, like sitting in on the Campfire Theater with a Jesse Chisolm interpreter or riding a bucking bronco in the Interactive Gallery.
For more, visit Chisholm Trail Heritage Center’s website at www.onthechisholmtrail.com, their Facebook page at Chisholm Trail Heritage Center or call (580) 252-6692.