Dateline: September 16, 2004

Museum to host 15 wagons in competition

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Fifteen wagons will be rolling into Clarendon next weekend for the tenth annual Col. Charles Goodnight Chuckwagon Cookoff to be held September 25 at the Saints’ Roost Museum.

Gates will open 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.

The second annual Saints’ Roost Gun & Knife Show will again accompany the Cookoff from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gun show is located inside the Clarendon Community Center, and admission is free with a cookoff ticket or $3 at the door.

Back on the museum grounds, Patrick Robertson and KEFH-FM will provide music at 11 a.m.

Live entertainment follows with afternoon performances scheduled by Audrey Brown of Clarendon, the Saints’ Roost Jamboree Band, music by Katie Askew of Clarendon, Delbert Trew of Alanreed, cowboy poet Oscar Auker of Clarendon, Dusty Michele Armstrong of White Deer, Gary Alan Bruce of Clarendon, Donna Sheppard of Clarendon and Booker, Payton Kane of Dodson, and the National Anthem performed by Bill Houston of Clarendon.

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 followed by the presentation of the cookoff awards.

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.

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 benefit the Museum’s continuing efforts to preserve the history of Donley County.