Wallace Celebrating Its Wild History Depot Days Bring Out Characters From All Eras
A shaggy-haired man in black hat, trench coat and duster curled his fingers around an ancient rifle, its barrel black as the heart of a cattle rustler.
On his chest was a gold star - the emblem of an Old West regulator. In his mouth, a pink party balloon.
This was, after all, a street party in Wallace.
Incompatible images defined this city’s 11th annual “Depot Days” celebration Saturday, where about 2,000 residents braved the rain and commemorated any era they chose.
Officially, Depot Days is a remembrance of the day 11 years ago when a historic Northern Pacific Railroad Depot was moved 200 feet to make way for Interstate 90.
Saturday, however, one couple strolled past a 1935 Ford in matching jackets that proclaimed “Bring Back the ‘50s.” Loudspeakers at Sixth and Cedar blared 1960s Beatles tunes. Actors staged a gunfight using pistols from the 1870s.
But history is history and that’s all that’s important in Wallace - a town that has bet its future on selling its past.
“What can I say, it’s a very historical town,” said resident and pub owner John Posnik. “The railroad, the buildings … everything’s historical.”
Last year, Wallace finished a $2.1 million downtown renovation designed to transform the depressed mining community into a tourist town. Residents hoped to draw on their image as a Wild West burg so rugged that brothels still operated a decade ago.
While the city is not quite the next Disneyland, townsfolk point to a Hollywood movie being filmed here as proof of impending rejuvenation.
Filmmakers for Dante’s Peak - a Universal Pictures show about a volcano erupting above a small town, starring actor Pierce Brosnan - chose Wallace because it’s picturesque and tightly surrounded by mountains.
Those mountains seemed an appropriate backdrop Saturday for Bruce Tweed, a retired quick-draw champion, who twirled a pistol before hundreds of rain-soaked onlookers.
With not-quite-lightning speed, Tweed dropped a Styrofoam cup with his right hand then drew his gun, cocked it and fired through the cup before it hit the ground.
“Give me another beer and I’ll take him on,” came a shout from the crowd, earning a few titters.
A bluegrass musician, meanwhile, was preoccupied with self-preservation.
“I want you boys to remember the rules of the Old West,” she said, twirling an acoustic bass. “Don’t shoot the short woman behind the big string instrument.”
Around the corner, admirers gawked over rows of rainbow-colored classic cars.
“If that back seat could talk…” mused one passerby, as she eyed a 1957 Chevy parked within view of Wallace’s Oasis Bordello Museum.
Ruth Lawrence was amused at the memories brought back by a gleaming 1929 Model A. She recalled ruining a pair of pants - and a pair of plants - in a similar car on a rainy day in 1935.
“Oh that roof leaked so,” she said. “I remember riding in back and holding tomato plants. The water filled up in them and spilled the dirt all over me. Never owned another one after that.”
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo