Riders, pageantry, memorabilia, food and music to celebrate Powell's 100 years May 25Embracing yesterday and today, Powell Founder's Day will be celebrated May 25.May 25, 1909, was the day lots began selling in Powell.Although centennial events will be scheduled throughout the year, the afternoon of May 25 is the big one.

“This is the actual Founder's Day Celebration,” said Sharon Earhart, Powell Centennial Committee chairperson. “If you really want to be a part of the centennial, you should be there.”

To allow folks time to return from their Memorial-Day weekend trips, the festivities begin at 2:30 p.m.

Riders and a horse-drawn buggy will escort a procession of dignitaries in vintage automobiles. The dignitaries, including Gov. Dave Freudenthal, will be delivered to a podium outside The Commons by centennial committee members Phyllis Preator and Powell Mayor Scott Mangold. Preator will introduce the governor and his wife, Nancy, and escort Cody Mayor Nancy Tia Brown and Park County Commission Chairman Bill Brewer to the podium. The governor and Mangold will address the crowd.

Proclamations will be read and special centennial letters delivered to a post office booth. Mangold will keep the proclamations until they are placed in the centennial time capsule to be buried later this year.

Following the proclamation, “Buffalo Bill's Cowboy Band,” playing music from the early 1900s, will entertain the audience in downtown Powell on Bent Street.

Centennial hot dogs, beans and cole slaw will be served. The price is $2.09 for adults, $1.09 for children under 12, or a donation to the committee to fund future projects.

A booth, “the Powell Centennial Mercantile,” will feature Powell Centennial T-shirts, caps and other centennial memorabilia.

Picnic tables will be scattered about outside and inside The Commons for partygoers to savor centennial dogs and enjoy the show.

Centennial beard contest winners will be announced at 4 p.m., and other activities are scheduled until 5 p.m.

At 7 p.m. that evening, Tim Schoessler will perform a piano concert featuring music from the turn of the last century. The concert, at Northwest College's Nelson Auditorium, is sponsored by Park County Art's Council.

Still looking for a drawing ticket to try your luck on the centennial quilt? Tickets are available at Powell Office Supply, Dan's Boots, Powell Mercantile, Lets Talk Cellular, Homesteader Museum or from centennial committee members.

Relay riders round out centennial celebration

Powell Centennial's Founder's Day will be celebrated May 25, and a bevy of relay riders will deliver the special mail and a special proclamation.

Powellites can take part by pinning letters that will take a wild trip between Cody and Powell, then arrive in Powell at a special post office booth in The Commons. Stamped envelopes will have a special post office cancellation stamp commemorating the centennial. All letters must have a stamp. Those wishing to have their letters mailed must include a 44 cent stamp.

Special rustic envelopes featuring a reproduction of 1909 downtown Powell and John Wesley Powell can be purchased at Powell Office Supply for $1. However, folks don't have to purchase the special stationery to send a letter, said Powell Centennial member Darrel Blevins.

Folks can drop off their addressed and stamped envelopes or cards at Powell Office Supply or the Homesteader Museum.

Phyllis Preator, centennial committee member and ride director, detailed the breathless race from Cody to Powell.

River Runners, Rich and Diane Evans, will kickoff the run in Cody, embarking at the Husky Bridge near the old Cody Depot just north of Cody at 8:30 p.m. A River Runners raft will dash the mail down the Shoshone River to Corbett Bridge, just upstream of the old Corbett “Shebang,” and deliver it to rider Wanda Shorb. She will race the proclamation/mail via horseback east toward Powell. Shorb will handoff to the Rocky Mountain Rustlers, a 4-H group, that will likely give the old Pony Express a run for their money. The Rustlers will gallop along U.S. 14-A, passing the historical missives to fellow Rustlers without dismounting. On the outskirts of Ralston, Pam Menuey, with her miniature buggy and pony, Chipmunk, will trot through Ralston with the mail. On the other side of Ralston, Elaine Moncur, driving a horse-drawn sheep wagon loaded with children, will make the next dash to Road 11. From there, Brenda Malliot will hightail it for Powell aboard a 1969 David Brown tractor.

The proclamation is scheduled to arrive at 2:30 p.m. in Powell and be delivered to dignitaries.

Youth will be involved in the run, but all will be under adult supervision, Preator said.

Folks get a real kick out of the Pony Express-type method of delivery.

“It really does work,” Preator said. “People love it.”