WILD WEST LIVES ON AT WESTERN HERITAGE DAYS

Story by Miriam Raftery

Photos and video by Khari Johnson

June 15, 2010 (El Cajon) – History came alive at the eighth annual Western Heritage Days June 5-6 in El Cajon, where Buffalo soldiers, ladies with parasols and Laguna Mountain men roamed the streets.

Entertainment also included Native American dancers, musical acts such as Tom Hiatt and the Sundown Riders, shoot-out reenactments and much more. View video highlights.

Organizers estimate that more than 5,000 people turned out for the event, which was hosted by the Olaf Wieghorst Museum in downtown El Cajon. Visitors had the opportunity to view presentations by blacksmiths and fur traders, see antique farm machinery, sample chuckwagon fare and shop at vendor booths featuring Western arts, crafts and jewelry.

The celebration also included a juried art show for Women Artists of the West at the Olaf Wieghorst Museum. Wieghorst, famed for his artistic portrayals of the nineteenth century American West, exhibited a remarkable affinity for the cowboys, the Native American Indians, and the settlers who helped shape this country's Western landscape.