We took a drive up to Randsburg on Saturday, September 15, in order to check this annual event out.
As expected, the main street was lined with vendors selling their wares, from the kitchy (a coat rack made from horseshoes was one item), to the merely somewhat kitchy (a 3-foot high steel windmill, which we purchased.) And then, there was just some plain-old junk for sale, such as old VHS tapes. Lots of them.
The highlights of the day were the classic car show, and the staged gunfight, which featured two groups of geriatric "gunslingers" firing blanks at each other. None of these guys appeared to be younger than seventy years old, and the same could be said of the "saloon girls" who were wandering around. Still, it was fun to watch.
Randsburg's staple businesses are its antique shops, the Randsburg General Store, and its famous watering hole: The Joint. Most of these establishments were open on this day, as were some newer businesses which include art galleries, a hot-rod shop, and a "motorcycle and surf" shop. As I'm intrigued by a "surf" shop located in the middle of the Mojave Desert, I'll have to look into that last business further, during my next visit.
Frankly, Randsburg has enough attractions - the Rand Desert Museum is one of them- definitely worth spending some time there-to make the trip worthwhile on any given weekend. Well, almost any weekend-I'd avoid holiday weekends, as the town is mobbed, and it is virtually impossible to get into the eating establishments.
As for the Old West Days event; if I hadn't already planned to do some poking around in the nearby El Paso Mountains at the end of the day, I might have been a little disappointed.
No comments:
Post a Comment