Thursday, September 30, 2010

Buena Park Home Town Days

An anonymous OCThen reader submits memories of Buena Park's Home Town Days, the predecessor of Silverado Days...

Prior to Buena Park's Silverado Days there used to be a celebration called "Home Town Days". This was typically held around May of each year.

My memories are from the late 40's to the early 50's. A parade was held and it went down Grand Ave. (Now Beach Blvd.) Local merchants and businesses would have entries in the parade.

The theme was cowboy and western and nearly everyone would dress up like cowboys and cowgirls.

They had a requirement that all men in town were required to have a beard of at least 1/4-inch long growth. If the men were caught in town without such a beard they would be arrested by the Home Town Days Sheriff or deputies and be put into a makeshift jail/cage until their trial came up. They held a kangaroo court. I can't recall exactly what it took to get out of jail but I remember the judge and the trials.

I think the celebration lasted for a few days.

Home Town Days stopped being celebrated in the mid 1950's.

It was in 1957 that the name Home Town Days was dropped in favor of Silverado Days, to coincide with the city's plans to adopt a western-style theme in downtown.

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