Celebration of pioneer-era Inyo returns this Saturday

September 4, 2012

Local youngsters and their families are invited to head out to Good Ole Days this Saturday at Laws Railroad Museum for old time games, food, live music and trade demonstrations such as blacksmithing, basket weaving and candle making. Photo by Mike Gervais

Laws Railroad Museum will once again be wrapping up the summer with a celebration of days gone by, a simpler time when items used daily were hand-crafted and virtually everyone had a unique trade.
Laws will host its Good Ole Days celebration this Saturday with more than a dozen demonstrators practicing unique trades, local nonprofit groups such as Rotary and Girl Scouts providing food and the Idle Hands String Band performing live.
The event is open to the public and offered free of charge.
Organizer Susan Cullen said everyone is invited to patronize the food vendors or pack their own picnic lunch and enjoy the festivities.
A local antique car club will be in attendance to show off vintage Model-A Fords and other classic autos while Laws’ own Ole Smoky locomotive will be rolling up and down the tracks, providing rides for visitors.
Local quilters will also be offering what Cullen called a “mini quilt show” in the Ranch House.
Volunteers from all over the state will set up and demonstrate skills such as blacksmithing, saddle making, a couple different styles of basket making, candlemaking, spinning and weaving and pottery making.
In addition to the food vendors, a chuck wagon demonstration will include examples of meals cooked with wood and Dutch ovens.
A separate demonstrator will be cooking with a Dutch oven over charcoal, and possibly offering some fare to Good Ole Days celebrants.
The demonstration exhibits will be going on all day.
Beginning at 1 p.m. Bishop City Councilmember Jeff Griffiths will be leading classic kids games such as sack races, an egg toss and relay races.
A 2 p.m., Cullen said adult games, a new addition to Good Ole Days, will begin. Adults will be invited to participate in a skillet toss and nail pounding contest.
Idle Hands will be performing at the depot from 2-4 p.m., at which time the popular Laws Pie Auction will take place.
Also, throughout the day, two authors, Judith Butler and Kathleen Hahn, will be signing copies of their books, and the Eastern Sierra Collaborative Education Program will have educational audio CDs in the train depot, telling the story of the Slim Princess and the railroad in the Owens Valley.
Cullen said that, as of last week, 38 pies had been donated for the auction fundraiser, and more were expected.
Each pie on the auction block is homemade by a local baker.
“It’s more of a community event than a fundraiser,” Cullen said. “The money we made from the auction last year was only about $1,400; it’s more for the community, to get people to come out and see the changes at Laws.”
Cullen said crews at Laws are currently building a new machine shop and the Laws Memorial Pathway is growing month by month.
Also, those who have been unable to make it to the museum in the past year will have an opportunity to see the new saloon.
Good Ole Days is sponsored by Inyo County, which provided a Community Development Sponsorship Grant for the event.