Dateline: September 18, 2003

Museum to host cookoff next weekend

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Tickets are on sale now for the ninth annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff to be held next Saturday, September 27, at the Saints’ Roost Museum.

Officials with the museum say 16 wagons are signed up to compete for top prizes, and the day will provide great family entertainment for all ages.

The gate opens at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast and lunch concessions provided by Boy Scout Troop 433. The tradeshow starts at 10 a.m., and museum tours will be available throughout the day.

Patrick Robertson and KEFH-FM will provide music beginning at 11 a.m.

Live entertainment follows with afternoon performances scheduled by Dan Hall of Clarendon, Cozy and the Red River Valley Band of McLean, cowboy poet Oscar Auker of Clarendon, music by Robert Shelton of Clarendon, Dusty Michele Armstrong of White Deer, Gary Alan Bruce of Clarendon,  the Maskils of Panhandle, and cowboy poetry from Justin Hagel.

The Chuckwagon meal will be served at 5 p.m. with a menu of chicken fried steak, potatoes, beans, and cobbler.

At 6:30, the museum will raffle off a pair of James Owens Handmade Boots, and the cookoff awards will be presented at 6:45.

Admission to the all-day event is free. Tickets for the authentic Chuckwagon supper are $10 each and can be purchased in advance at Henson’s in Clarendon by calling 806/874-3517. Boot tickets are also available at Henson’s or from any museum board member.

This year’s cookoff will also be accompanied by the first Saints’ Roost Gun & Knife Show located inside the Clarendon Community Center. Admission to the show is free with a cookoff ticket or $3 at the door.

The gun show will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, cowboy church will be held under the tent at the museum with preaching by Shannon Hall of Loco, Okla.

All proceeds from the cookoff and the gun show will benefit the Saints’ Roost Museum’s continuing efforts to preserve the history of Donley County.