Helldorado Days is celebrating its’ 90th year this weekend. Held every third weekend in October, the event consists of gunfight re-enactment shows, street entertainment, fashion shows, a parade and a family oriented carnival.
The name for the event dates back to July 1881, when a disgruntled miner wrote to the Tombstone Nugget Newspaper. Stating that instead of finding their “El Dorado” of riches, many men ended up washing dishes or other menial jobs. They instead found their “Helldorado.” The term stuck.
Helldorado is Tombstone’s oldest festival and was started by a committee of twelve people in 1929. The intent was to show that the old town of Tombstone, then 50 years old and inhabited by about 500 people still had some life left in it. The early Helldorado celebrations that consisted of a pageant, mock hangings and reenactments of true events. Historic events were recreated by those hearty residents of Tombstone, each taking on a different role and telling the story of Tombstone’s turbulent past.
Helldorado Days takes place October 18-20. For more information go to the Helldorado facebook page.
Here is a schedule of events:
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For those of you asking about a schedule of events, here is a first draft of what is to come. Please note that these…
Posted by Helldorado Days – Tombstone, AZ on Thursday, October 10, 2019