Event of the Month

vent of the Month Mountain Men of Old Add Spice to This Small Town During Bill Williams Rendezvous Days

Michael F. Vasquez was ready to leave town. But first he had to get the lemonade man situated, find the awards for the parade winners, and reward the Cub Scouts for shoveling up the horse manure.

I found Michael Saturday morning on Railroad Avenue in Williams. The carnival smells of onions, hot dogs, and hamburgers wafted around us. A printer by trade, Vasquez had volunteered to coordinate the 15th Annual Rendezvous Days, the biggest celebration of the year in this northern Arizona town named for mountain man Bill Williams. At least 3,000 people were expected for the Memorial Day weekend, swelling the population of the town of 5,000 souls. And as soon as Vasquez was sure everyone was having a good time, he was departing for a well-earned vacation.

So far it looked as if he'd succeeded. A parade down Historic Route 66 (Bill Williams Avenue) got Rendezvous Days rolling. Grand marshals were the Bill Williams Mountain Men, mounted on their Missouri Foxtrotters, draped in buttery buckskins, and whooping as they waved to the crowds. "Are they as mean as they sound?" I asked Marshall Duncan, as we watched in front of his Highlander Motel. "They're gentle as kittens," replied Marshall. Decked out in a rhinestone-studded bow tie, Marshall has seen his share of Rendezvous parades during his 50 years in Williams.

The Sticker Patch Trike Club cruised by on glittery threewheeled motorcycles. Six fire engines, one with a trusty dalmatian on board, wheeled along, sirens shrieking. Kids scrambled for pieces of candy along the curb. And scrunch-nosed Cub Scouts performed the dirty but necessary job of cleaning up the recycled alfalfa produced by the horses.

The parade over, I headed up to Buckskinner Park on the south edge of town. Here the "other" mountain men, the Buckskinners, pitched canvas tepees in a peaceful camp under the oaks and ponderosas beneath the big shoulders of Bill Williams Mountain. The Buckskinners greet each other with "good day" and trade tales from other rendezvous. They're a loose-knit group of men, women, and children who come together each year here to share warm comradeship and a sincere interest in history. They make their own leggings and breechclouts, shoot blackpowder rifles, set traps, and do a little knife trading and tomahawk throwing. Their main goal is to preserve wilderness skills circa 1840.

If you ask a Buckskinner's name, you'll likely get his or her "camp" moniker. As Jennifer Kirkpatrick explained, you usually have to do something stupid to earn that name - her father's, for example, is Over Did It. Wandering down Trader's Row, I met Spirit Hawk, Thumbs, Prairie Rose, and Washeshu Grande (Big White Guy).

Real-life helicopter pilot Daryl Tumbleson, dressed in leggings and jaunty red French voyageur cap, said he came to Williams three years ago, saw the Buckskinners, and said, "I want to do that."

Down at the shooting range, Al Emanuel (French Albert) and his son, Ken, signed up hopefuls for a black powder shoot. Teams of three lined up 25 yards from a row of wooden stakes driven into the ground. The contest was to shoot the stakes in two. "If he can't shoot it, he'll chew it in two," one buckskinner joshed. Dust flew as the shooters tried their luck.

That evening the Buckskinners gathered around the council fire for a barbecue and more tale swapping, as children listened wide-eyed to stories of the days of Old Bill Williams. By that time, no doubt, Michael Vasquez was well on his way.

WHEN YOU GO

The 16th Annual Rendezvous Days are scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, May 26, 27, 28, and 29. In addition to the traditional parade on Saturday morning, Rendezvous-goers will find barbecues, carnival rides, music, dances, craft booths, and a Memorial Day service at the Williams Cemetery. Williams is 30 miles west of Flagstaff on Interstate 40. Buckskinner Park is just south of town, at the end of Sixth Street; look for the signs. For more information, call the Williams Chamber of Commerce at (520) 635-4061, or write 200 W. Railroad Ave., Williams, AZ 86046.