JACKSON CHAMBER, MERCHANTS HOST GOOD OLD DAYS SATURDAY

JACKSON - Charlie Meyer, also known as "Muleskinner," will be easy to recognize at the Good Old Days celebration in Jackson Saturday. He'll be wearing a 22-pound, hairy buffalo coat that he tanned and stitched himself.

Meyer also might be easy to spot because of the oversized knife he tucks in his waist band and the rifle he totes.

Meyer and several other volunteers, both good guys and bad guys, will be staging a bank robbery along with some shoot-outs during the day to enliven the Good Old Days activities.

Jeff Moore, chairman of the event, said many of the activities will be held in the downtown Jackson area, near the courthouse. Those include pony rides, can-can dancers, live music, dancing in the streets. Special games for children including a stick horse show, roping competition, bean bag games, marbles, a turtle race and hopscotch, are planned.

Entertainment will be provided by two bands, the Daisy Travelers and New Wine and three groups of dancers, the Chuck Gunther Square Dancers, Carla and J.C. Watt and the Raymond Rampley Dancers. Also on hand will be Marvelous Marv, the Medicine Man.

Antique tractors will line HIgh Street and store windows will contain antique exhibits. A tepee or two will decorate the courthouse lawn and the Zenon River Brigade Reenactors will set up a mock campfire and explain customs of the time.

A number of activities are planned at the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railway station also. A horse-drawn wagon will provide free rides from downtown Jackson to the train station all day.

In the railyard will be demonstrations by a blacksmith. Homemade lye soap will be demonstrated and children will be invited to try their hand at grinding corn. The city library will sponsor a book and magazine sale and there will be three train rides during the day.

"This is a chance to relive the good old days," said Moore. "We sure want to encourage everyone to come and if possible wear old-fashioned clothing."

Ken Maevers, a veteran of shoot outs at the Black Forest, plans to boast a sheriff's badge and take on any bank robbers. He said rumor has it that gunslingers will storm a downtown bank at 1 p.m. to relieve it of its stash of cash.

The Jackson Merchants Association and Chamber of Commerce are spearheading the event. Activities are set to start at 9 a.m. and last past 6 p.m.

The first event will occur between 9 and 9:30 a.m. when a couple dozen cowpokes ride their horses into town. The horses will be hitched along High Street.