Saving Dalton Days
A happy childhood memory finds new life in Meade, Kansas.
By: Jana Bommersbach 01/01/2008
Dalton Days needed exactly what the Demmitts offered: enthusiasm, time, dedication and hard work. “Susan is an incredible organizer,” her husband brags. “I put on the rodeo and helped with some of the other events, but Susan was the organizer and got everyone involved.”
In 1999, that first year of reviving the Dalton Days Wild West Fest, they had a rodeo, parade, dance and even a Riders in the Sky concert held at the local football field. “It was the best Dalton Days we ever had,” Brent says. They repeated their efforts the next two years before moving to Arizona, where Brent is now a horse trader and Susan is a land use consultant.
The best news is that Dalton Days continues to thrive in Meade every June. Attendees can enjoy re-enactments and a gunfight competition. In 2007, the Reenactment Guild of America officially sanctioned the event and handed out prize money.
“We’ve got it all,” the planning committee claims. “We have good food, races, Old West vendors, great music, games for the kids and adults, living historians, gunfights, a cowboy ball and even a cowboy church. It will be a weekend of the rights, sounds and tastes of the Old West.”
When festival time comes, the Meade Fire Department enters the park with sirens blazing for one of the favorite events, the hand-cranked ice cream competition. First graders race for prizes on stick horses that Meade High School students built in their building trades class. The kids even join in on the parade, along with the floats, antiques and horses. Two years ago, True West’s own Bob Boze Bell was the grand marshal of this parade.
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