Prospector Days Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Republic’s Prospector Days celebration today through Sunday will mark the Ferry County centennial and the 40th anniversary of the community festival.

Activities get started tonight at 7 with a rodeo. Then, about 8 p.m., the highway through downtown will be closed for a community dance.

On Saturday there’s a logging show, but the festival primarily commemorates Republic’s century-old mining heritage. Even the foot race at 9 a.m. Saturday is called the Gold Rush Run. Runners will have their choice: 2.3 miles or 10 kilometers. Those who choose the 2.3-mile course might be back in time to do some drilling, mucking, steeling or spike driving in the mining competition at 9:30.

Other Saturday activities include a pancake breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m., a car show at 10, a parade at 1 p.m., a drama at 1:30, a logging show at 2, a second round of rodeo at 6 and another dance - this one in a barn - at 9.

Highlights will include a fast-draw shooting demonstration at 11:45 by Bruce Tweedy, who appeared in the 1994 movie “Tombstone,” and a re-creation of the famous 1881 shoot-out at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Ariz. The shootout at 12:15 will be staged by the Legends of the Old West, a group led by Ford, Wash., resident Reggie Byrum - who also appeared in the “Tombstone” movie.

Events Sunday will be limited to a 10 a.m. “bucket run” at a nearby ranch, and the beginning of a squaw fish derby that will run through June 16.

A 25-cent bounty will be paid for each squaw fish caught and turned in at area resorts.

, DataTimes