Photos from the 2011 Event

Downtown Winterset is all decked out in Flags and Flowers.

The cavalry is in place and setting up camp.

General George Armstrong Custer poses on Daisy.

The Birthplace and Welcome Center are all decorated.

Local bakery The Dessert Factory right on the Courthouse Square has Duke Cupcakes!
“Our salute to the local hero. This one has two of John Wayne's favorite things: Tootsie Rolls and Tequila. This chocolate cupcake is filled with chocolate mousse and frosted with Tequila Butter Cream. Then they top it off with a little sea salt and a Toostsie Roll.

“Get off your horse, and try this cupcake.”

(I can vouch for them—they're really good!)

At the New Museum Benefit Dinner on May 27th, cavalry trooper Roger Shannon serenades Aissa Wayne with
“I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen.”

John Wayne’s daughter Aissa thanks those attending the New Museum Benefit Dinner.
“You guys are the best friends of John Wayne” she said.

Academy Award-winning actor Claude Jarman, Jr. talks to the crowd at the Museum Benefit Dinner. The film Rio Grande was shown later, in which he plays John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara's son, Trooper Jefferson York.

Named after John Wayne, young Duke Sloan stands next to the $2,500 granite block for the film Sands of Iwo Jima purchased by his grandfather John Burke. Mr. Burke also placed the winning $16,000 bid for the original oil painting of John Wayne as Capt. Nathan Brittles, the largest contribution to the new John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center from the auction.

Museum Benefit Dinner guest Bill Foley donated a commemorative plate depicting John Wayne in Rio Grande to fellow Marine Corporal James Wesley Robinson, pictured here with his fiancé Emily Giuffre. A veteran of tours of duty in Okinawa and Afghanistan, the corporal and his fiancé are from Brenham, Texas and made their first trip to the Midwest to attend the John Wayne Birthday Celebration.

Auctioneer Jon Garrison holds a 26 Bar Ranch belt buckle. One of six buckles created by John Wayne’s eldest son Michael to replace a buckle Duke believed he had lost (but later found), the design commemorates the 26 Bar Ranch near Scottsdale, Arizona that Wayne owned with partner Louis Johnson. The buckle went for $6,700. All together, the auction raised over $38,000, a record amount.

Aissa Wayne reveals the new design for the John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center.

Saturday, participants line up for the beginning of the Cavalry Charge 5K Run/Walk.

Some of the winners of the Calvary Charge 5K Run/Walk after receiving their award medals from General George Armstrong Custer in front of the John Wayne Statue.

Afterwards at the Firemen’s Pancake Breakfast, visitors—and some Cavalry Charge participants—enjoyed a filling meal. All proceeds from the breakfast benefit Winterset’s volunteer Fire Department.

Visitors surround the John Wayne Enterprises stand next to the Birthplace Welcome Center to sign up for a contest for a Limited Edition 20" John Wayne Legend of the Hour clock or a Collector’s Edition John Wayne Monopoly game.

Saturday, visitors could purchase tickets for slices of scrumptious homemade pies baked by local churches and ice cream at Pie Squared. The event was a big success, with over 240 different pies available.

General George Armstrong Custer leads a cavalry patrol past the Iowa Theatre, where classic John Wayne films Fort Apache and Rio Grande were shown for free.

At a special event at the Birthplace on Saturday, a scale model of John Wayne’s converted minesweeper turned yacht, the Wild Goose was unveiled. From right to left are Aissa Wayne, John Wayne’s daughter, Captain Shawn Ware of Hornblower Cruises, present owners of the real Wild Goose, and Scott Conrad, Aissa’s husband and an Academy Award-winning Hollywood film editor.

Capt. Brittle’s Brilliant Brass Band entertains guests prior to the showing of John Wayne’s film She Wore A Yellow Ribbon on the giant 25-foot screen on the grounds of the Madison County Courthouse.

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