Grab your cowboy hat, put your boots on and prepare for some rootin’ tootin’ fun because another Mesa Old West Days Festival is just around the corner! This event, organized by several downtown Mesa merchants, will be on MacDonald Street between Pepper St. and 1^st Avenue. It will be a 2 day event this year, on Saturday November 7th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, November 8th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The festival will capture the rugged excitement of the Old West that will keep the whole family engaged throughout the 2-day Festival. The 2^nd Annual Mesa Old West Days Festival will feature Old West Re-enactors in gunfight performances, the 9^th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers in full military garb, the Mormon Battalion, and the Arizona Vintage Baseball League will show what the sport was like in the 1800s.

Mesa Old West Days Festival attendees will also enjoy a Period Costume Contest with Prizes, the Arizona Cowboy Fast-Draw Competition and Gun-Slinging Booth featuring some of the fastest Cowboy Fast-Draw talent in the nation including World and National champions in attendance, plus lots of western music and entertainment.

Mosey on over to see the Old West Magician, Ventriloquist, and Fortune Teller.  Other highlights will include Old West Craftsman & Artisans, Western Authors, Poets and Speakers, Old-Time Photography, Kiddie Rides, a Chuck Wagon, and merchants, a Blacksmith conducting demonstrations throughout the Festival, and vendors specializing in Old West Merchandise

Bring your Wide-Open-Range Appetite with you because we’ll have plenty of Vittles and Refreshments for sale to satisfy even the hungriest of wranglers. You can even get in on the Dutch Oven Contest if you think you have that Winning Recipe.  More info and an entry form is available online at www.MesaOldWestDays.com.

The first Annual Mesa Old West Days Festival held downtown last fall was such a huge success that this year’s event has grown to a 2-Day Festival with plenty to keep the whole family happy on the trail for the entire length of the Festival. “The public was excited and very anxious to see an even bigger event than last year” said George Notarpole, Co-Chairman of the Mesa Old West Days Festival and owner of History By George, 129 W. Main St. “With this in mind we gave them what they wanted by doubling the length and quality of the festival to make it an even bigger and better event than last year with an eye toward showcasing the rich pioneer and territorial history of Mesa.”

Admission to the Mesa Old West Days Festival is FREE and convenient FREE parking will be available in the large public lot at the southeast corner of Macdonald Street and First Avenue. To learn more visit www.MesaOldWestDays.com or call George Notarpole at (480) 898-3878 or Mike Pierson, festival co-chairman and manager of Book Gallery in Mesa, 50 W. Main St., at (480) 835-0757.  We’ll see you there… unless you’re yella!!