NEWS RELEASE
April 21, 2016
For use: Immediate
Finney County Historical Society
Contact: Steve Quakenbush, 620-272-3664
“BUFFALO JONES” APPEARING LIVE DURING AN EVENING IN THE PAST
Reservations open for May 21 program on patio at Finney County Historical Museum
The live program is set for 6 p.m. May 21 on the patio at the Finney County Museum, with re-enactor Lary Cole of Holcomb portraying Jones, best known of the community’s four founding fathers. In addition, the evening will include old-fashioned hamburgers grilled onsite, along with side dishes, beverages and dessert; music from the trails and prairies, performed live by Al Miller of Garden City; and a couple of cowboy poetry selections from the life and times of Keith Downer, also of Garden City.
Admission is $15 per person, with proceeds benefitting the museum, and seating is by reservation only. Reservations are open until May 16 or when all 88 seats are sold, whichever comes first. Reservations and payment may be made 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays at the FCHS offices, accessible through the north door of the museum at 403 S. Fourth in Finnup Park; or 1-5 p.m. seven days weekly at the museum’s front desk, accessible from the exhibit entrance near the Ben Grimsley arches at Lee Richardson Zoo. The museum will be closed April 25.
Information is available at 620-272-3664 and payment is requested by cash or check to the Finney County Historical Society. The program will move indoors at the museum in case of threatening weather.
The Evening in the Past is supported by the Finney County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, and last year’s gathering sold out a week in advance. The 2015 program featured pioneer Raymond Boggs, from the Kansas ghost town of Santa Fe, portrayed by Howard Koehn of Copeland, with old-time music by the Generation Gap Quartet.
In this year’s program, Cole will re-create his role as Jones from last fall’s FCHS Historic Walking Tours of Valley View Cemetery. Cole is also appearing as Jones this month at the annual banquet of the Kearny County Historical Society. The performer is a retired Kansas Highway Patrol officer who is involved in the sport of cowboy action shooting, using vintage-style firearms.
Jones, a contemporary of Buffalo Bill Cody, is credited with inspiring Zane Gray’s novel “The Last of the Plainsmen,” as well as founding Garden City in 1879 with colleagues and competitors John Stevens, James and William Fulton. He was named the first superintendent of Yellowstone National Park by President Theodore Roosevelt, and earned a reputation for his efforts to save the American Bison after spending many years as a buffalo hunter.
