LECLAIRE, Iowa – A touch of the old west will soon be coming to this community.
LeClaire’s Buffalo Bill Museum will host the Buffalo Bill’s Best of The Wild West living history weekend Saturday and Sunday, June 29-30. This immersive living history event takes place at Cody Elementary School at 2100 Territorial Road.
At 12:30 p.m. both days, the 80-minute live extravaganza, Best of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, will take place in a 150-foot-by-300-foot arena. The show is professionally scripted and choreographed – with legends of the Wild West, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, trick riders, sharpshooters, a Gatling gun, side-saddle riders, a stagecoach, mounted bandits and cavalry all performing scenes right out of the original Wild West.
“I saw this group perform in Wisconsin last year and I knew we should bring it to LeClaire,” said Rita Farro, the new director of the Buffalo Bill Museum. “Pleasant Valley Schools offered to host, and the tourism board decided to celebrate the 190th birthday for the City of LeClaire.”
William “Buffalo Bill” Cody was born Feb. 26, 1846, in Scott County. Buffalo Bill, the namesake of the regional history museum, was a Pony Express Rider and a civil war hero before starring in own Wild West Show.
Admission to the show will be: Adults $15; Seniors: $12; and Kids 12 and Under: $8.(Go here for ticket information.)
The grounds open at 10:30 a.m. each day. Refreshments will be available and visitors can listen to music, tour the canvas boomtown camp, see historic demonstrations, play 1880s kid games and meet the legends of the West.
Advance tickets can be purchased at the Buffalo Bill Museum, 199 N. Front St., or from the Museum Facebook page. Attendees can also pay at the gate. Hay bale seating will be limited. Guests are asked to bring their own blankets or chairs.
The Riverboat Twilight is providing shuttle buses from the Mississippi levee parking lot up to the Cody School location.
