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(click for full-size version)
We celebrated John Wayne’s 100th Birthday with the Centennial Celebration here in Winterset on May 25-27, 2007 with stupendous events including:
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Official John Wayne Birthday Centennial Coin
EXCLUSIVE! This beautiful high-quality 10 gauge metal coin measures 1-9/16" in diameter and features a stunning antiqued finish with the official “100 Years of John Wayne” logo on the front and inlaid blue color around the outer edge, and the Birthplace home on the reverse. A great souvenir! Availlable no where else in the world. Click for a larger view. While supply lasts!
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100th Birthday “Frontier Legend” Poster
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This stunning 18" x 26" poster for John Wayne’s 100th Birthday is by artist Michael Bryan, the artist behind the official ‘100 Years of John Wayne’ graphic. Click here for a larger view.
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INTERNET STREAMING OF MANY CENTENNIAL EVENTS
Wayne Williams has a long background in radio both on the air as a newscaster and disc jockey and behind the scenes in sales and production. He has been involved with horses since the age of 6. From the Indianapolis 500 Parade to the Rose Bowl Parade and exhibiting at horse shows, he is now is the announcer for over 25 top horse fairs and expos across the United States.
His radio show “Speaking of Horses” is available not only on select radio stations, but worldwide on the web at www.horsetradeshow.com, where streaming video many of the John Wayne Birthday Centennial Celebration events may be viewed!
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VIP FUND RAISING EVENT FOR THE NEW JOHN WAYNE MUSEUM |
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Friday, May 25, 2007 at the Stoney Creek Inn, 5291 Stoney Creek Point in Des Moines (shown left; just north of the 86th St. exit on Interstate 80/35) join members of the Wayne family and several of John Wayne’s co-stars for a delightful evening. Social hour is at 6pm, supper at 7pm with your choice of delicious Chicken Cordon Bleu or a mouth-watering Iowa Pork Chop. The program and auction follows at 7pm. Attire is “Cowboy Casual.”
This is sure to be an event that will be remembered for a lifetime. The number of attendees is very limited, so reserve your place today!
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Sponsored
in part by
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FRIDAY, MAY 25, 2007 6:00 P.M.
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$100.00
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GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR THE NEW JOHN WAYNE BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM AND LEARNING CENTER
It was a very special groundbreaking ceremony at the Birthplace at Noon on Saturday, May 26th (Wayne’s 100th Birthday) for the new John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center. Wayne’s son Ethan and other family members dedicated their gift of a larger-than-life statue of John Wayne. Learn more about the plans for the new Museum
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CHUCKWAGON SUPPER AT THE BIRTHPLACE
 Friday, May 25th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., if you’ve got a hankerin’ for authentic western-style chuckwagon grub this is for you! Legendary cook and cowboy poet John Schaffner will whip up an authentic trail drive meal of beef tips with gravy, cowboy hash brown potatoes, chuckwagon beans, biscuits or corn bread, and dutch oven deserts. There’ll be iced tea and genuine campfire coffee to wash it all down. A fabulous way to kick off the John Wayne Birthday Centennial Weekend!
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FREE JOHN WAYNE MOVIES ON THE BIG SCREEN!
Experience John Wayne films the way they were meant to be seen—on the BIG screen in a darkened movie house with popcorn! The Iowa Theatre on the Courthouse Square will be showing these classic films for FREE!
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Friday, May 25th
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Saturday, May 26th
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Sunday, May 27th
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9:00am |
True Grit (1969) |
Rio Lobo (1970) |
The Quiet Man (1952) |
11:45am |
Stagecoach (1939) |
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) |
The Searchers (1956) |
2:30pm |
The Shootist (1976) |
Rio Bravo (1959) |
Red River (1948) |
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OLD-FASHIONED HOMETOWN PARADE
Relish the delight of a genuine small-town parade at 10am on Saturday, May 26th as it winds from the Madison County Fairgrounds through Wayne’s hometown of Winterset, past the picturesque 1800’s Courthouse Square and his Birthplace home.
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Winterset High School Marching Band
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The parade will feature marching bands, floats, performers from the John Wayne Birthday Wild West Revue, and wagons including the exquisite The Miller Bros. 101 Ranch Bandwagon, also known as the Pawnee Bill Bandwagon (right) drawn by a mighty hitch of 10 horses. It comes from Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin. This huge wood carved bandwagon was built in 1903 at a cost of $4,000 for Gordon William Lillie, otherwise known as Pawnee Bill. Working in Buffalo Bill’s shows, he later started his own show, then merged his show with Buffalo Bill later on. Unlike most carved wagons, the center display carvings are different on each side of the wagon. |
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John Wayne and Pawnee Bill were pals, and Wayne and Jennifer Jones presented him with a set of commemorative spurs on the set of Wayne’s film The New Frontier in 1939.
Photo courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society (Oklahoma is also 100 this year!) and the Pawnee Bill Ranch and Museum.
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HORSEBACK SPECTACULAR CONCERTS
Michael Martin Murphey, America’s #1 selling cowboy music singer will feature thrilling music from John Wayne movies, classic cowboy songs, and Murphey’s original music that tells the tale of the Old West and cowboy life that John Wayne portrayed so vividly in many of his films.
A Western Music Hall of Fame Inductee and one of the world’s most respected singer-songwriters in pop and country-western music, Murphey has six gold records (including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Marty Robbins) and numerous hit singles including the No. 1 charting “Wildfire” as well as “Cowboy Logic,” ”Carolina in the Pines,” ”What’s Forever For,” and ”Long Line of Love.”
Long considered by the music industry as the “singing cowboy poet” and a pioneer of American cowboy music, Murphey’s song “Long and Lonesome Road to Dalhart” from his Heartland Cowboy/Cowboy Songs Vol. 5 album, has been awarded the Wrangler Award for the Best Original Western Song.
Many, many thanks to Michael Martin Murphey who not only performed THREE shows in a smaller covered venue due to the weather on Saturday to accommodate the crowds, but ALSO performed solo before the two John Wayne Birthday Wild West Revues on Sunday! Our hats are off to you!
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JOHN WAYNE BIRTHDAY WILD WEST REVUES
INCLUDED with all concerts, relive the splendor and excitement of the Old West with spectacular shows at the Madison County Fairgrounds Grandstand patterned after Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World extravaganzas (1883-1913) featuring authentic period music and all these enthralling acts and more:
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Attack on the Deadwood Stagecoach
The nationally-famous Johnson hitch from Delmar, Iowa with a matched team of six galloping horses will be attacked by a band of marauders, much like in the film Stagecoach, the movie that made John Wayne a star. Tremble with excitement as the fierce gun battle ensues! 
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 Ginger and the Top Hands Rodeo Drill Team of Bellbrook, Ohio. Organized in 1998 by team captain and choreographer Ginger Ryals, this dazzling equestrian unit has entertained audiences throughout the United States and Canada with their thundering and thrilling horseback maneuvers at such venues as the Buckeye Stampede PRCA Rodeo, the Kentucky Derby, the Cam-Am Equine Emporium in Turo, Nova Scotia and the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena.
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 Cossack Ivan the Black
An arena veteran with 30 years experience, Bob Stifter of Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, created the character of Cossack Ivan the Black as a tribute to Buffalo Bill’s Congress of Rough Riders of the World. Atop his battle steed, Royal Czar, Ivan’s daredevil stunts include traditional cavalry demonstrations of slicing a watermelon with a saber and striking targets with a nine-foot battle lance, all at a full gallop. 
Accompanied in the arena by American Indian warrior Chief Iron Tail (Chuck Bright), this fast-paced presentation is known to bring cheering audiences to their feet.
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 Stunt Rider Max Reynolds of Lexington, Nebraska, is a horseman extraordinaire. This celebrated western entertainer has appeared in rodeos and exhibitions from Pocatella, Idaho to Paris, France and was the featured stunt performer in the television mini-series “Buffalo Girls.” An accomplished trick shooter and lariat artist, his thrilling signature act is the Roman Ride. Standing on the backs of two running horses he presents death-defying stunts including straddling fire stakes and jumping his team through a ring of fire.
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Trick Rider/Roper Brian Bausch gives a whirl of silver screen cowboy stunts including trick riding, trick roping and gun spinning, winning many World Championship Cowboy Mounted Shooting events. He’s spent years of training and certifying Posse horses for Sheriffs’ departments.
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Buffalo Bill Also born in Iowa, Col. William F. Cody was the most celebrated western showman of all time, known on both sides of the Atlantic as Buffalo Bill. An authentic frontier army scout—he was awarded the Medal of Honor—and buffalo hunter, he parlayed his fame as a stage actor and dime novel hero to organize Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. This western-styled circus toured the United States and Europe for 30 years (1883-1913) and established Buffalo Bill as the most famous American of his time. Portrayed by Tom Doroff of Webster, Minnesota, this dedicated western historian and re-enactor has performed at the Denver Stock Show, the National Western Rodeo and in celebrations in Buffalo Bill’s hometown of North Platte, Nebraska. Doroff is also the founder of Shadows of the Old West, an organization of fellow devotees who entertain and educate on the subject of western history throughout the upper-midwest.
Annie Oakley and her husband Frank Butler are portrayed by Cathy and Don Wagner of Brown Deer, Wisconsin. Devoted to the life and legend of America’s most famous sharp-shooter, the Wagners have painstakingly researched the careers of the famous couple and pay special attention to firearms, costumes and finer points of their renowned shooting exhibitions.Their presentation is as authentic, skillful and appealing as Miss Annie herself.
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RIDERS IN THE SKY CONCERT
Riders In The Sky are America’s Favorite Cowboys, stellar vocalists and instrumental virtuosos who have recorded over 20 albums the past two decades of the finest in western entertainment. Their wacky western wit is an integral cornerstone of their live performance. Delighting audiences of all ages, Riders In The Sky are perhaps best-known for their “Woody’s Roundup” theme from the Disney/Pixar animated classic “Toy Story 2.”
The only western musical group to have won a Grammy award and recently inducted into the prestigious Walk of Western Stars, the Riders—Ranger Doug (Idol of American Youth), Woody Paul (King of the Cowboy Fiddlers), Too Slim (“a Righteous Tater”), and Joey (the CowPolka King)—will set your feet a tappin' and put a big grin on your face as they present a special concert of John Wayne-themed western music and fun and play “the Cowboy Way.”
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Riders In The Sky Concert and the John Wayne Birthday Wild West Revue - Madison County Fairgrounds Rodeo Arena
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SUNDAY, MAY 27, 2007 4:00 P.M.
General admission seating
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$20.00
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Additional tickets, if any, will be for sale at the venue beginning 3:30pm on Sunday, May 27th. |
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THE GREAT WESTERN MERCANTILE EMPORIUM
The Great Western Mercantile Emporium, a marketplace with wonderful western-related merchandise and fantastic food to delight the palate awaits you at the Madison County fairgrounds.
Musicians such as yodelers KG & The Ranger (right), Carin Mari and Pony Express, bluegrass bands Highway Home and Mr. Baber’s Neighbors, demonstrations of the western arts by Swanson Cowboyography and more will entertain and enthrall visitors.
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Carin Mari and Pony Express
Named 2006 “Youth Entertainers of the Year” at the National Festival of the West, 15-year old Carin Mari is the National Yodeling Champion and an accomplished guitarist. Her older brother Colin (17) joins her on Flat Iron mandolin, and younger brother Evan (13) plays bass guitar. This amazing band performs their own unique brand of Western music with warm harmonies and pure yodeling.
Frequent guests on stage with Michael Martin Murphey, they’re much more than “a cute bunch of kids”—these are talented performers who will delight you with the their renditions of classic songs that show their genuine love and affection for traditional Western music.
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If you enjoy authentic bluegrass music, you’ll have a great time at the Emporium. Two fine bands will entertain during the Centennial Celebration.
Highway Home is a group of hard working individuals with one common goal. That goal is to get the smooth, simple sound of traditional bluegrass music out to the people who want to hear “just” that. There is no leader or egos in the group, just a circle of friends who love to make music.
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Mr. Baber’s Neighbors
From the flatlands of the Midwest comes a band of urban hillbillies who joined the bluegrass revolution and set out to bring the mountain sounds to those seeking a respite from the daily grind. The Solar String Band was established in the living room of Mr. Baber’s Neighbor with the intentions of nothing more than a good time. With the release of their self-titled album Mr. Baber's Neighbors offers their own interpretation of the bluegrass experience.
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Swanson Cowboyography
If you’re interested in experiencing the lore and lure of the American Cowboy up close and personal, with demonstrations of REAL Cowboy gear—rodeo equipment actually used in the arena; spurs that raked horses and bulls; saddles, blankets and more—then this is for you!
The audience gets the opportunity to actually touch, try on and try out equipment that was used on the range—actual equipment used by genuine working cowboys on the job. Learn how to spin a rope, crack a whip, and lasso a roping dummy. It’s an exciting and informative way to learn about the real way of life out on the range.
SPONSORED BY BEN FRANKLIN, WINTERSET
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MARKETPLACE HOURS: The Great Western Mercantile Emporium will be open 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Saturday, May 26th, and 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 27th. Admission to the marketplace grounds is only $2.00. Tickets may be purchased at the gate.
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 HORSE CLINICIAN SAM POWELL
Sat. May 26th at 4:00 p.m. at the Fairgrounds rodeo arena, you will be spellbound by Sam’s almost mystical ability with horses.
Fascinated by the cowboys he saw on Saturday movie matinees, Sam left home at fifteen to find his father, who was running an equestrian program at a school in Scottsdale, Arizona. He observed closely the behavior of horses that roamed free through the nearby canyons. His background and lessons learned in working at rodeos helped enhance his natural abilities. The respect shared by the trainer and the horse can transform into results beyond those achieved by even the best of the old-school bronco busters.
Sam has performed before audiences as far away as Europe and Australia. Clients such as country superstars Reba McEntire and Tanya Tucker, the Nashville Police, and universities and stables throughout America extoll his gifts.
 Sponsored by Purina Mills.
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COWBOY SYMPOSIUMS
 Hosted by Boyd Magers, noted western film author and publisher of WESTERN CLIPPINGS. Knowledgeable about all phases of westerns and film, he is the author of several books on westerns including Westerns Women, Ladies of the Western, Best of the Badmen and So You Wanna See Cowboy Stuff? (The Western Movie/TV Tour Guide). Boyd has moderated over 150 western celebrity guest star discussion panels, written numerous articles and columns on western-related topics, provided research data and material for many other books and TV and video documentaries. He regularly consults with many western celebrities, helping then acquire material on their careers or films.
The Symposiums will be held in the Miller Auditorium of the Winterset High School on Saturday, May 26th at 4:00 p.m and Sunday, May 27th at 1:00 p.m. A limited number of seats will be available.
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Cowboy Symposiums Focusing on the Films of John Wayne -
Miller Auditorium, Winterset High School
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SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2007 4:00 P.M.
General admission seating
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$10.00
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Additional tickets, if any, will be for sale at the venue beginning 3:30pm on Saturday, May 26th. |
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SUNDAY, MAY 27, 2007 1:00 P.M.
General admission seating
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$10.00
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Additional tickets, if any, will be for sale at the venue beginning 12:30pm on Sunday, May 27th.
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The Symposiums will feature several of John Wayne’s co-stars, including:
Dean Smith
Native Texan Dean Smith appeared with John Wayne in many of his films, including Rio Bravo, The Alamo, The Commancheros, How The West Was Won, McLintock!, El Dorado, True Grit, Rio Lobo, and Big Jake. Inducted into the Stuntman’s Hall of Fame and winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Dean was given “The Duke Award” by the John Wayne Cancer Institute in 2006.
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 Gregg Palmer
A familiar face in TV and the movies, Gregg has been an actor in the film industry for over 50 years beginning his career as a contract player with Universal Studios from 1951 to 1954. He has appeared in over fifty motions pictures and over seven hundred episodes on 90 different TV shows.
Gregg is best remembered for his portrayals in such classic films as Magnificent Obsession and his appearances with John Wayne in six of his films: The Commancheros, The Undefeated, Chisum, Rio Lobo, The Shootist and Big Jake (right).
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Edward Faulkner
After service as a jet fighter pilot in the Air Force, Ed began his TV and film career in 1958. Appearing in well over 250 TV shows and nearly 30 films, he co-starred with John Wayne in Chisum, The Green Berets, Hellfighters, McLintock!, Rio Lobo and The Undefeated. He recently appeared in a cameo role in the Hallmark Channel’s classic turn-of-the-century western, Hard Ground with two of his old friends Burt Reynolds and Bruce Dern.
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MILITARY SCALE MODELS
An important part of John Wayne’s career were his films made for all branches of the United States miltary. Mike Seek presents an astounding collection of intricately-detailed large-scale models of military equipment like that used by Wayne in many of his films. These incredible scale examples are not toys but highly authentic depictions of equipment and gear.
This expansive collection of rigorously-detailed scale models will be on display at the Winterset Public Library meeting room two blocks north of the Birthplace, and Mike will be on hand to answer questions.
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PARAMOUNT PRODUCER AND JOHN WAYNE FRIEND A.C. LYLES
 Also attending the John Wayne Birthday Centennial Celebration is legendary Hollywood producer A.C. Lyles. He has the shortest resume in Hollywood history: 1928-2007, Paramount.
He began working for Paramount at the age of 9, distributing bumper stickers and handbills for the Florida Theatre in his native Jacksonville, which was part of the Paramount-Publix chain. He graduated to ushering at the theatre and interviewing visiting celebrities for the Jacksonville Journal. After meeting Adolf Zukor, head of Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, he wrote him weekly. Traveling to Hollywood after graduating from high school, Zukor put him to work in the studio’s mailroom. He moved up to the publicity department, became a producer in 1954 and formed his own production unit in 1956, producing the Rawhide TV series and numerous western films, where he became good friends with John Wayne.
A.C. continues to produce to this day and is a frequent presenter on Hollywood topics. A.C. Lyles is also an honorary member of the board of the John Wayne Birthplace Society.
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JOHN WAYNE BOOK AUTHORS
Here’s a great opportunity to meet in person the authors of some of the finest books on John Wayne who will be appearing at the Birthplace:
Roger M. Crowley, author of John Wayne, An American Legend (left)
Howard Kazanjian and Chris Enss, authors of The Young Duke (right)
Tim Lilly, author of The Trail Beyond
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