Step into past at annual Frontier Day (9 June 2006)

Fort Concho hosts breakfast, 19th century exhibits

By JOE RUIZ
jruiz@sastandardtimes.com or 659-8254

If only for a few hours, a small slice of San Angelo will march back in time to the 19th century.

Fort Concho National Historic Landmark, the city's frontier Army post in the late 1800s, will host its annual Frontier Day celebration Saturday morning.

The day's events begin with an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast at 6:30 a.m. The official start of Frontier Day will be announced via a cannon shot at 7 a.m.

''Our guys like to have the artillery out,'' said Sandy Whittley, chairwoman of Frontier Day.

The pancake breakfast will raise funds to support Lions Club projects.

Rope-making, hoops, stilts and other period-oriented exhibits are some of the events geared toward children, whose education and entertainment are some of Frontier Day's main focuses.

''The fun events are things that were fun for kids back in those days,'' Whittley said.

One of the more popular events, Whittley said, is a game of baseball played as it would have been in the late 1880s. The game, played a little like today's game, uses different equipment - the ball is lighter, the bat is heavier and fielders don't wear gloves.

Only in the past few years has Frontier Day's focus been on 1800s education. Whittley said the event had grown ''hokey,'' with vendors who had no relation to the historical side of Fort Concho peddling their wares. She and other Frontier Day organizers decided to switch to period-era exhibits.

Another popular event, Whittley said, is a sheep shearing demonstration, which doesn't start early for good reason.

''We used to start the sheep shearing and the sheepdogs a little earlier,'' Whittley said. ''But they don't do well with the cannon. Everybody jumps, and the sheepdog ends up in Mertzon.''

Frontier Day has been happening for at least the past 28 years, said Carol Cummings, special events coordinator for Fort Concho.

''You'll have a good time if you come,'' Whittley said.