Memories of Summer....
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2003
1
22
43
Trip End
Jul 29, 2008
Jackson,
Montana,
United States
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
One of my favorite things to do each summer has been to attend Old Timer Days in the small town of Jackson, Montana. For six summers in a row Ron and I have taken three or four days and headed out past Dillon to Jackson. It's about a four-hour drive from Big Sky. Our good friend Mick-Mike has family that lives in Jackson so we get to help with setting up the different things that make the occasion what it is.
Basically Old Timers Days is a celebration, honoring the Old Timers of the area by serving a nice meal and providing entertainment with kids races and contests
Auctioning off the leftover meat
. Ron helps to cut up a few sides of beef and wrap it up in 15-pound burlap and tinfoil packages. On Saturday night there's a dance at the local bar and at about 1 a.m., it's time to bury the meat. The coals in the pit have been burning all day. We load the meat packets in pick up trucks and hop on (and hang on tight). The guys uncover the hole and we form a line and start to pass the meat up to the hole. After it's all unloaded, the hole is covered up again tightly to cook slowly all night long. Before heading off to bed, there's one more thing--it's time for pie! The pie thing hasn't happened every year but I think it's generally a tradition...3 a.m. pie break. Mmmmm, pie.One of the best things about Old Timers Days is hanging out with Mick-Mike's family. They make us feel like we're at home and there's always good stories being told about the old days. The kids are fun too, there's usually a whole bunch. Ron and I park our truck and camp in the school parking lot right across the street from the family home-I'd be surprised if this school has more than 20 students, it's pretty small.
Sunday is the big event. We wake up late and the first stop is to get a Bloody Mary from Rose's Cantina (she makes them really good). Then we help fetch the meat out of the barbecue hole with pitchforks
Diggin for Treasure
. It's been cooking all night long and it smells gooo---oooood! There's lots of homemade buttered bread, homemade horseradish sauce and cold sodas. The ladies cut the tender beef off the bones and pile it on top of buttered bread to make sandwiches. I help serve to all of the Old Timers. It's usually very hot and sunny in Jackson during the summer so the local garage clears out all the tools and things to make room for tables and chairs. Everyone enjoys their sandwiches in the coolness of the garage and then it's time for the auction and the games.With the leftover beef, there's an auction to raise some cash. One year there was a bison cooked up instead of beef and they auctioned off the skull and cape...that was pretty cool. After the auction, it's time for the fun part...the races! All the kids (and adults), have some sort of competition. There's running races, balloon tossing, the tug-of-war and the kids favorite-the coin search. Mick-Mike's Grandfather dumps a big pile of sawdust in the road and then throws all his years collection of spare change into it. The kids go nuts on this one and the little ones have to really watch out that they don't get trampled.
After that, it's generally time for Ron and I to head back to Big Sky but sometimes we take an extra day to camp outside of town by a creek and go fishing. It's a beautiful area and I can't wait to have another July when we're not in Antarctica to enjoy Old Timers Days again.
It could be awhile, since we've already signed up for another winter :-).
