Special Events Set for the Sesquicentennial Pony Express Re-Ride, Saturday, June 26, in St. Joseph, MO

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This special edition of the re-ride—celebrating the 150th anniversary of the legendary Pony Express overland mail delivery service—will start at 8 a.m., Sunday, June 6, in San Francisco, Calif. Riders will traverse the Pony Express National Historic Trail, a 1,966-mile route from California, through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas to Missouri.

Upon the arrival of the last “re-riders” in St. Joseph at approximately 10 a.m. on June 26, the Missouri Chapter of the National Pony Express Association will hold a colorful circa-1860 procession from the foot of Francis Street at the St. Joseph riverfront through downtown, past the famed Pony Express statue and original stables at the Pony Express Museum, ending at the Patee House Museum, 1300 Penn St., site of the original Pony Express headquarters. In a moving ceremony, commemorative letters carried from California in a mochila (mail bag) will be turned over to the U.S. Postal Service for delivery in St. Joseph—just like in the days of the Pony Express. Activities will continue at the Patee House throughout the day until 4 p.m.

The National Pony Express Museum, site of the original Pony Express stables, will present Chris Corbett, author of Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legends of the Pony Express, at 2 p.m. on Friday, June 25 and Saturday, June 26. Blacksmiths, spinners and other craftspersons and re-enactors also will present demonstrations and displays.

Come and "live the history" of the wagon train encampments of 19th century St. Joseph on Saturday, June 26, as the St. Joseph Museum presents Wagons, Ho!  Wagons, Ho!, a living history event for all ages, will be held on the grounds of the St. Joseph Museum, 3406 Frederick Avenue, from 1 to 4 p.m. Wagons, Ho! will feature historical reenactors, 19th century children’s games, wood working, leather punching, butter churning, knot-tying, candle-dipping, rug braiding, rope twisting, and other pioneer skills that would have been practiced in St. Joseph as pioneers prepared to head west.  There will even be a chance to try your hand at old time baseball (muffin ball.)

The afternoon will also feature the opportunity to meet “Jesse” and “James,” two live oxen from Whistle Creek Livestock Preserve.  The two oxen, along with their owners Cindy Weaver and Jim Yount, will give visitors a first-hand look at why oxen were so often chosen to pull the wagons that traveled westward.  There will be a demonstration on how oxen were yoked during the journey and how that compares with how horses would have been used. 

Wagons, Ho! will take place on the grounds of the St. Joseph Museum, 3406 Frederick Ave., on Saturday, June 26, from 1 to 4 p.m.  The event is free to the public.  Regular admission to the St. Joseph Museum, Black Archives Museum, and the Glore Psychiatric Museum will be charged.  For more information please call 816.232.8471 or visit the St. Joseph Museum Website at www.stjosephmuseum.org. 

The National Pony Express Association re-ride marks the 150th anniversary of the historic Pony Express era that bound the United States together, east to west, in the days before the trans-continental railroad and telegraph.  St. Joseph became the eastern starting point of the Pony Express on April 3, 1860, when the first rider left St. Joseph, headed west to Sacramento, Calif., with saddlebags of mail.

Sesquicentennial activities and events began earlier this year in St. Joseph and will continue through October 2011. For more information, please contact the St. Joseph Convention & Visitors Bureau at (800) 785-0360 or visit www.stjomo.com.