We were pretty excited to announce this week our plans to commemorate the 115th anniversary of what was arguably Newcastle’s biggest year (1903) by performing re-enactments of the events that grabbed headlines in that year.
We are looking forward to partnering with Bird Cage Theatrics Company to provide the framework around which the re-enactments of the lynching of Diamond Slim, the shooting of Billy Miller, and the appearance of Teddy Roosevelt will be built.
Because all of these events drew crowds, the casts for these re-enactments will not be complete without you, and we hope the residents of Newcastle and Weston County will embrace this celebration of our heritage and come out to enjoy the festivities.
Fortunately, the anniversaries for these events also fall on holidays this year, with the exception of Teddy’s speech, which actually happened 115 years ago last week. We didn’t figure he would mind if we chose to celebrate his visit with a July 4 parade instead. It also seemed like a great way to kick off a day that will culminate with Pinnacle Bank’s Fourth at the Four-Way Festival and RaeLynn Concert that evening.
The anniversary of Slim’s lynching will be on Memorial Day, and we are planning to welcome folks back to town from their holiday travels with a Main Street celebration (neck-tie party) that evening. The Battle of Lightning Creek occurred on October 31, so we’re hoping the community will be on board with burying our Sheriff again this Halloween!
We’re thrilled for the opportunity to expand the work we’ve done with the Western Heritage newspaper we’ve produced for the past decade, and think “The Newcastle Legacy Series” is a great way to start attracting travelers to our community- but we need you to come and claim your roles too!