Posted on 09/15/2019 7:34:11 PM PDT by rintintin
DURANGO, Colo. — Every summer night throughout the American West, hundreds of tourists and western music fans sit down to a meal and a show at a modern-day chuck wagon. At these venues, a throwback to the covered wagon kitchens that were part of cattle drives, audiences polish off plates loaded with meat, baked beans, a potato, applesauce, a biscuit and cake, and then watch a house band tell corny jokes and play cowboy songs popularized by people like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry in the 1930s and ’40s.
The bands are not just the entertainment; they are the main attraction of the chuck wagons, and carry the same names. The Circle B Ranch in Hill City, S.D, has the Circle B Cowboys, for example, and the Flying J Wranglers perform at the Flying J Ranch in Ruidoso, N.M. Each group typically includes the owner, some of his family members and performers who have played with the band for decades. They are informal affairs. Chuck wagons do not have green rooms; instead the performers spend their time before their shows helping to serve food and pour lemonade.
The chuck wagon season, which for most runs from Memorial Day weekend until about Labor Day, wraps up each year with a two-night jamboree. This year, on Sept. 3 and 4, six groups gathered at the Bar D in Durango, Colo., for the Chuckwagons of the West Association’s 43rd annual Chuckwagon Jamboree, and 700 of their fans came with them.
he chuck wagon dinner and music business in the West can be traced back to 1953, when Ross Wolfe opened the Flying W Ranch in Colorado Springs, Colo. And many of the current chuck wagons have their roots back at the Flying W.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This looks like great fun! I bookmarked for next summer. Thanks for posting!
Agree. Thanks for posting.
True. I help Charlie Camp and his wife build the CCC Chuck wagon dinner place outside of Tucson while in collage.
He learned the trade in CO - and it made money hand over fist for his family....
Attended the Flying W Chuckwagon several times when I worked in Colorado, they are not afraid of saying grace before dinner either.
Spent an enjoyable evening at the Flying W in Colorado Springs.....great people!
As a local since 1977, I will say that it is fine food, fine music and fine fun. It’s a great way to leave modern cares and stresses behind.
Truth be said, I could not bring myself to click that link. And I’m afraid it might cause some of their clientele to pull up stakes and try to come here and “improve” the place, as countless Californians and Texans have tried. I will just say that there is no Whole Foods here, nor Trader Joe. A good deli, or seafood? You gotta be kidding. The nearest freeway is four hours away. Airline flights are regularly delayed or canceled, as the commuter flights do break down or weather prevents.
There is an easy way to become a Durango Millionaire. Bring three and leave while you still have one left.
But this is off-topic. It’s well worth it. ‘Nuff said.
Here is the guy who started it in 1953, now retired.
Cy Scarborough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyGZ-Q92NQk
The kids do a fine job of carrying on.
I retired a couple years ago and we bought a place in North Idaho last year. My mom was born up the road and her folks retired in the mid 60s to a spot only a mile from our house. The reason I brought that up is we are preparing for western road trips after my wife retires late next hear. I added this to our bucket list.
About 40 years ago, a buddy and I drove in my CJ7 Jeep from CA to Durango via Farmington where we picked up an oil service buddy of mine. We skied for a week around Christmas time and really enjoyed it. It isn’t an easy place to get to.
Bookmark
In Benson, AZ they had a great train ride ending at a chuck wagon lunch and then back to town. Great times but it went out of business quite a few years ago.
That description sounds like it’s the Catskills of Colorado.
Those places are a lot of fun. Twice I went to the Flying W Ranch near Colorado Springs in the 1980s and early 2000s. It since burned in a fire, but I still have memories of great times.
Love this music. As a square dance caller I play some of it during breaks. This morning I am singing to myself Twilight on the Trail as performed by Leroy Van Dyke. Ahhhhhhhh.
I also enjoy the choices in scenery between you and me. In my my mind, there is nothing wrong with making a hundred miles or two between stops. We live in a great country with great people, so we can safely ignore *some* things that are wacky in the cities by staying away.
So take that bad and long road as a type of filter, keeping the wrong people away. Closed mountain passes and irregular snow plows are a plus, and even the delays in cone-zone seasons are similar features.
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