Buffalo Commons Festival to celebrate Old West tales

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

McCOOK, Nebraska -- It isn't possible to relive the past, but it is possible to get a glimpse of what it was like when Southwest Nebraska was young.

After the Civil War the cowboys drove cattle from Texas to the Union Pacific railroad tracks in Ogallala during one of the most colorful sagas of the Wild West. Cattle towns like Culbertson and Imperial thrived.

On Friday and Saturday, June 10-11, the Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival will celebrate those stories.

The Wild West Bus ride will travel to the trail ruts and historic cattle trail sites in Wauneta and Imperial. Jack and Carol Maddux will tell the cattle stories of the day. Jack is a third-generation rancher, storyteller's storyteller and local historian. Rancher Jim Applegate of Sutherland and Gary and Margaret Kraisinger of Halstead, Kansas, will join them.

The Kraisingers wrote the book, The Western, The Greatest Texas Cattle Trail, 1874--1886. They tell the tales and true accounts about cowboys, cattle, saloons, and watering holes on the trail north as related by cowboys and homesteaders -- the stories that became today's beef industry.

On Saturday, June 11, 9 a.m., the community storytelling session at the High Plains Museum in McCook will feature the Kraisingers, Applegate and local cattlemen and women -- one of the descendants of Tom Wray, founder of Wray, Colorado, and early citizen of Culberson has also been invited.

"Community Stories" has always been the outstanding offering of the Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival," says Cloyd Clark, Co-Chair of the Festival. "I remember when Mary Ellen Goodenberger of Trenton, dressed in her work clothes, told the story of a lost calf. She demonstrated with an unborn calf skin, an old stoneware churn, and a butcher knife that had been worn by sharpening until there was hardly any blade left." The knife was sharpened on the unglazed lip of the churn.

That story taught Clark the value of colorful anecdotes in stories. Goodenberger has co-led the open mike sessions at the Bieroc Café with Walt Sehnert for many years. This year Mary Ellen and Walt will gather local storytellers again on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. "These stories are always entertaining," Clark said.

Many opportunities are available to tell your own tales or listen to those your neighbors tell. One of the most popular Community Story events will be the "Trails and Tales" gathering at the High Plains Museum, beginning at 9 on Saturday, June 10.

A brand new event for area story swappers will be the "Trail Blazers" at the Bieroc at 1:30 on Saturday, featuring high school and college-age voices in song, poetry and story.

Clavinova Skies, an acoustic folk group, made up entirely of local talent will play; then, the mic will be open.

According to Festival Co-Chair Meagan Friesen, youth through 20-somethings are invited to share.

The Bieroc will also be the setting for an event that was standing room only last year. Bring your ghost stories to share on Friday night at 10 hosted by McCook's own Duane Tappe.

The Festival's purpose is to bring the best of entertainment right here to Southwest Nebraska, but also to savor the community's heritage and its history and to perpetuate the art and craft of storytelling.

Everyone is urged to join in the stories at this year's Festival. Tell a story, listen to a story, recount history, or enjoy a stretcher. Everyone is welcome. This year's Festival is co-sponsored by the Nebraska Humanities Council, the Nebraska Arts Council, and the McCook Arts Council, with support from the Nebraska Visitor's Bureau and the Nebraska Reading Council.

The Festival motto is "Next to God and family, our stories are our most important treasure."

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