Dateline: September 25, 2003

Wagons will battle for top cookoff prizes

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

A busy day is in store at the Saints’ Roost Museum as the ninth annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff gets underway this Saturday, September 27.

Sixteen wagons are set to compete for top prizes, and the day will provide great family entertainment for all ages. Two other wagons were also scheduled to compete but had to pull out in recent days due to circumstances beyond the museum’s control.

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

The tradeshow starts at 10 a.m. with exhibits by Jack & Lindy Craft, Iron Buckboard Silver, Cowboy Fudge, G-B’s, Cortney Shaller, Millie B’s Country Corner, Delbert Trew, Clarendon Assembly of God, Ed Bright, Katherine Ariola, the Friends of the Library, and many more area businesses and organizations.

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, Robert Shelton of Clarendon, cowboy poet Oscar Auker of Clarendon, Dusty Michele Armstrong of White Deer, Gary Alan Bruce of Clarendon, and the Maskils of Panhandle.

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.

Proceeds from the cookoff and the gun show will benefit the Saints’ Roost Museum’s continuing efforts to preserve the history of Donley County. The museum is located just off State Hwy. 70 South.