Calico Days

Join San Bernardino County Regional Parks and Calico Ghost Town for its 59th Annual Calico Days event held over the weekend of Sept. 27-28, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Calico Ghost Town that recreates the life and times of miners during the late 1800s.

The event focuses on the spirit of the Old West and features an 1880s costume contest, reenactment skits, pie-eating contest, Miner’s Triathlon competition, Burro Run competition, Bucket Brigade contest, live musical performances, egg toss competition, gunfights and more.

The Miner’s Triathlon and Bucket Brigade will be held on Saturday, Sept. 27 and the Burro Run will be held on Sunday, Sept. 28.

The triathlon for men and women competitions include rock pulling, muckraking and tug-of-war events. The burro race is a competition featuring contestants guiding their burro from station to station across town to be the first to reach the finish line. The Bucket Brigade is a race to see whose team can scoop and pass buckets of water to fill up the water barrel first.

Food options during the event include the Calico House Restaurant, Lil’s Saloon, and food vendors. Attendees can also visit Calico shops and attractions including Maggie Mine, Mystery Shack, Dorsey’s Gourmet Dog House shop and the Odessa Railroad train ride. Calico is pet-friendly and leashed pets are welcomed.

This family-friendly event embraces the life and culture of the 1880s when Calico was a bustling silver mining town from 1881 through the late 1890s when Calico began to see a steady decline in population as silver lost its value and people fled the town.

At the height of its glory, the town’s population rose to about 1,200 people in 1887, and had about 22 saloons, a schoolhouse, post office, its own version of a China Town, a cemetery and its own newspaper. The town produced about $86 million in silver and about $45 million in borax, hauling its product by the infamous 21-Mule Team.

In 1966, Walter Knott, the founder of Knott’s Berry Farm, donated Calico to San Bernardino County, which is now managed by the Regional Parks Department.

Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids ages 4-11 and children under 3 are free.