by Ted Sherman

Created on: February 21, 2009   Last Updated: February 22, 2009

The 26th annual Carson City Rendezvous is scheduled for the weekend of June 12 to 14, 2009. The event's original name was the Kit Carson Rendezvous, in honor of the great American western hero for whom the city was originally named. Carson City today is the capital of Nevada, which became a U.S. state in 1864. Carson City continues to be a much more traditional Western town than its more glittering and glamorous sister cities in the state, Reno and Las Vegas.

Carson city's pride in its Western past is richly demonstrated every year at the picturesque Rendezvous weekend celebration in its Mills Park area. Along the streets and parklands, people stroll, sing and dance in authentic 18th Century costumes, while the Pony Express, stage coaches and Conestoga wagons rumble up and down its streets. The vehicles will be filled with happy child and grown-up passengers throughout the festivities.

There's also a very authentic Mountain Man encampment, with bearded characters just as they were in lonely hills, deserts and forests during the early 19th Century. Visitors can observe grizzled miners and prospectors showing their skills in digging, panning for gold and cooking over open fires, with big pots boiling with all kinds of stews and spicy chili concoctions.

There will also be a Native American village, with brightly-costumed representatives from tribes throughout Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and California. They will demonstrate music, group ceremonial dancing and hunting skills. Their talented craftsmen and women will offer unique straw, leather and ceramic creations for sale.

In a reconstructed Western street scene, Old West gunfighters will thrill audiences of kids and grown-up kids with dramatically staged duels in the manner of Wyatt Earp's battle at the O.K. Corral. Although the bullets won't be real, the good guys always win, of course. Nearby, the outcome of combat will be a bit more hazy in skirmises between costumed blue and grey re-enactors representing Civil War soldiers on opposing sides, with units of Yankees and Rebels.

There are scores of other happenings at the Carson City Rendezvous, including a petting zoo, animal rides for the kids and an arts and crafts fair. To add joyous, foot-stompin' sounds to the festivities, there will be continuous free Western music concerts and dances performed on the Star Stage throughout the weekend festivities.

Local restaurants will feature special Rendezvous menus, and a food court in the park site will serve home-cooked-style Western specialties throughout the fair grounds. For more information, call 775-687-7410 or 1-800-NEVADA1.

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