Despite the fear of a financial setback and the loss of a founding board member, Bishop's greatest event celebrating the heritage of mules and the Western lifestyle as returned for its 55th year.
Some 30,000 fans and participants are expected to attend the annual celebration that leads into the Memorial Day weekend held at the Eastern Sierra Tri-County Fairgrounds in Bishop.
Competitions and demonstrations that include more than 700 mules participating in more than 180 events begin on Monday, May 19 with the opening of the souvenir shop at noon at the fairgrounds with practice jumping in the Main Arena and practice dressage at the East Arena 1 in the afternoon.
Mule Days is not only recognized as one of the largest celebrations of the strength, hardiness, and stamina of the mule — a staple of Americana tradition — it also features the largest non-motorized parade in the United States.
The procession runs along Bishop’s Main Street beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 24.
The celebration began as a small show in 1969 with a few hundred attendees and has grown to the city's largest event, now described as "The Granddaddy of Them All" when it comes to mule shows nationwide.
It is known for its family-fun entertainment and generations of families make their pilgrimage to celebrate the mule each year for Memorial Day.
According to organizers, the 14 mule shows featured throughout the week consist of Western, youth, English, cattle working, gaited, coon jumping, racing, musical tires, gymkhana, packing, shoeing, chariot racing, team roping and driving.
For most competitions, veteran announcers, Bob Tallman and Bob Feist, take the microphone to
both educate and entertain crowds.
In addition to competitive events, Mule Days has many other featured events to expand the experience. Country music stars take the stage Thursday night, featuring headliner and Western Music Hall of Fame inductee Dave Stamey.
A former cowboy, mule packer and dude wrangler, Stamey is now one of the most popular Western entertainers working today. He has been voted Entertainer of the Year and Male Performer of the Year seven times, and has been named Songwriter of the Year five times by the Western Music Association.
He has also received the Will Rogers Award from the Academy of Western Artists.
Cowboys and Indians Magazine has called him “the Charlie Russell of Western Music," while Western Horseman Magazine has declared his “Vaquero Song” to be one of the greatest Western songs of all time. True West Magazine named him Best Living Western Solo Musician four years in a row.
Stamey's opening act will be local favorite Fiddlin' Pete Watercott, who has performed at a variety of festivals, including the Woody Guthrie Festival in Okemah, Okla., the Elko National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Millpond Music Festival, Canadian River Music Festival, The Lone Pine Film Festival, Larry Fest in Wisconsin, Minneapolis Monarch Festival, and the “Stars” Theater of Bakersfield.
Celebrating the wild Mustang’s heritage in the West, Pete has led horseback songwriting groups with many Eastern Sierra Pack Stations and has produced six albums including “Songs of Curley Fletcher” the only recording dedicated to the work of the great Western poet.
Cowboys will also have the opportunity to prove their roping and riding skills astride some of the best working mules in the United States. There are also barbecues, country dances and an arts and crafts show.
“Mule people are determined to prove that anything a good horse can do, a good mule can do better,” according to event organizers. “From trail riding to show classes, mules can do it all with the grace unique to these animals.”
The Bishop City Council at its Meeting Monday proclaimed May 19 through May 25
Mule Days Week. While recognizing the significance of the event to the area, the
proclamation also paid tribute to the army of community volunteers who assist in making
Mule Days happen successfully.
Last fall, the event's board of directors said Mule Days faced an uncertain future due to changes in operation at the fairgrounds and the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The board called on the community to help raise $100,000 and keep Mule Days going in 2025, as well as for the years ahead, and was able to do so earlier this year.
This will also be the first Mule Days without Bobby Tanner, who had been an event staple since 1969, when he led a pack string in the event's first parade at the age of 10.
Tanner, who served as a Mule Days board member and president, and was also inducted into the event's Hall of Fame in 2000, passed away last June at the age of 64.
Bishop Lions will also be serving pancake breakfasts from 8-10 a.m. May 22-25 during the event.
Club members will serve an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast for adults at $10 per meal, with sausage, butter and syrup, utensils and napkin. Look for the Bishop Lions near their food booth at the Tri-County Fairgrounds serving from their new BlackStone grills, having scrapped the old modified trailers that served up thousands of pancakes and sausages over flaming hot propane-fired cast iron griddles for more than 40 years,.
Proceeds from these Lion pancake breakfasts go to support high school scholarships, the annual Top 10 graduating high school seniors' awards dinner, contributions to numerous community organizations, school sports teams, Red Cross and Salvation Army, and other charitable causes and programs.
Lions will then shift from pancakes to hamburgers and cheeseburgers and almost-world-famous corndogs and popular beverages at their Lion food booth, adjacent to the main Fairgrounds Arena entrance, daily during Mule Days from 11 a.m. until closing.
“Holding an event of this magnitude requires participation of hundreds of volunteers that dedicate their time every year as a show of camaraderie and solidarity from every side of the community,” the proclamation reads in part. “The Mule Days celebration, as a family event, provides an opportunity to educate the next generation of packers.”
For more information on concert entertainment and ticket purchases, visit muledays.org.
