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Livin’ in the Wild, Wild West....
Black Hills Stock Show Foundation’s Cowboy Fashion Parade
Rapid City, SD - The stage
opens to an old cowtown, reminiscent of early day Deadwood. Dance hall girls,
outlaws and cowboys mingle among the crowds.
Get ready for some can-can action and the ocassional
gunfight along with the latest in western fashions and accessories with the
Black Hills Stock Show Foundation’s annual western style show event, Parade of
Cowboy Finery.
Coats, hats, furs and jewelry will mix and match with
dress, street and ranch apparel that offers something for everyone, from the
older lifestyle to the youngest cowpoke. “Our stores reflect the unique part
of the country we live in and its history,” says event chair, Becky Husman.
“Along with that, the Dahl Fine Arts Center is helping with period costuming
that are fashions in and of themselves. How many times do we reach back into the
past and incorporate the old with the new when it comes to style? It’s all
going to be there at this show.”
Playing off the Foundation’s annual commemorative
print theme, “The Great American Cowboy” the Cowboy Fashion Parade offers
the first public viewing of the original art to be auctioned later in the week.
Titled “Days of 76: Spirits of Deadwood”, it’s an action-packed
depiction of early day organizers and participants, rushing hell-bent for
leather on the Deadwood Stagecoach and the mightly oxen teams that made their
way through early-day Deadwood.
Show emcee Bobby Marchesso will be riding shotgun on
the event that’s set to arrive at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Theatre,
Saturday, January 31 at 4:30 p.m. You can wet your whistle after that with
wine and cheese at 5:30 p.m., all served up saloon style, thanks in part to the
folks at the Minerva’s/Ramkota. “We’ve got some great props to work
with,” says Husman, “thanks to generosity of folks at the Ramkota who are
graciously lending us materials, " notes Husman.
An afternoon of free entertainment doesn’t happen
very often in the 21st Century, but back in the ‘old day’s, all a feller
needed was his best pair of stone washed jeans, a hat without a hole in
it, a neck scarf and a few coins in his pocket to mosey on into town for a good
time. “That’s pretty much the case here too,”
laughs Husman. “There’s no door admission and if people would like to donate
to the Foundation’s scholarship programs, why , we’d be grateful. Putting
your name in the hat for $50 Gift Certificates from participating stores,
offered throughout the event, can cost as little as $2.00 .”
Along with CanCan girls, a reunion of former Rodeo
Queens will grace the stage where they’ll join their present day
contemporaries for a turn on the runway. “There’s nothing quite like
the boots, buckles and tiera’s to make it all sparkle,” says Husman, a
former Miss Wyoming herself. “Add the furs that have been presented to many
queens over the year from a South Dakota furrier, and it’s a class
act.”
And all about showcasing the colorful history of
Deadwood and the Black Hills; the cowboy, the gunman, the dancehall girl, the
people who carved out a place for themselves and did it with style.
So come on in and ‘set for a spell’ and be
ready to revisit the Wild, Wild West.
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