MULES TO HEADLINE NAMESAKE FESTIVAL.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer Boron's Twenty Mule Team
Twenty mule teams were teams of eighteen mules and two horses attached to large wagons that ferried borax out of Death Valley from 1883 to 1889. Days Festival has something special this year: the actual 20-mule team. Namesake of the town's main thoroughfare and of its annual festival, the team will make its first public appearance since 1981 on Saturday, provoking general excitement and forecasts of up to double the parade's usual 5,000-spectator turnout. ``It's just been tremendous,'' said Cindy Phillips Cindy Phillips (born October 31, 1983) is a professional female bodybuilder from Nova Scotia, Canada. Cindy started lifting weights in 2002. Her first contest was the Nova Scotia Provincial Championship in April, 2003, where she placed second in the lightweight division. , a member of the festival organizing committee. ``All the people on the committee have just been flooded with phone calls.'' Warming up for a starring role in the 1999 Tournament of Roses, the 20 sorrel sorrel, name for several plants, particularly species of dock (see buckwheat) and oxalis. sorrel Any of several hardy perennial herbs of the buckwheat family, widespread in temperate regions. mules will pull a 115-year-old set of Borax borax or sodium tetraborate decahydrate (sō`dēəm tĕ'trəbôr`āt dĕk'əhī`drāt), chemical compound, Na2B4O7·10H2O; sp. gr. 1. wagons and a water tank as the second entry in the parade, behind a mounted color guard. Riding in the wagons will be Borax senior vice president Preston Chiaro, the parade grand marshal, and Borax Chief Executive Officer Ian L. White-Thomson, plus children and grandchildren of Borax employees. The mules will be driven by pack outfit owner Bobby Tanner of Bishop. The parade gets under way at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, starting at James Street and heading west on Twenty Mule Team Road. The parade lineup consists of more than 60 entries, including high school marching bands, floats, custom and classic cars, and members of the Boron boron (bōr`ŏn) [New Gr. from borax], chemical element; symbol B; at. no. 5; at. wt. 10.81; m.p. about 2,300°C;; sublimation point about 2,550°C;; sp. gr. 2.3 at 25°C;; valence +3. and Mojave youth football leagues. Concluding the parade lineup is an eight-foot scale model of the X-33 spacecraft prototype, borrowed from NASA's Ames Research Center. The X-33 model will ride on the back of a pickup truck. The real X-33 is scheduled to launch this summer from Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. . ``The X-33 is going to launch over us, and I thought this would be a good way to acquaint the community with it,'' Phillips said. Neither the mules nor the X-33 model will travel the entire parade route. Both will stop for display at Kern Street, slightly less than a mile into the parade, while the rest of the entries will turn right toward Boron High School. The parade launches the two-day Twenty Mule Team Days festival, which runs through Sunday at Boron Park. Games, crafts, food booths, a car display, and music will be featured. TWENTY MULE TEAM DAYS HIGHLIGHTS Saturday7-10 a.m. - Pancake breakfast, Boron Senior Center, 27177 Twenty Mule Team Road 9:30 a.m. - Parade starts on Twenty Mule Team Road at James Street 11 a.m. - Masons barbecue, 26997 Nudgent St. 11 a.m. - Youth football games, Boron High School, at Prospect and Roberts streets Noon - Games, crafts, car show, food booths, Boron Park Noon - Horseshoe tournament, Boron Park horseshoe pits 12:30 p.m. - Dance Dynamics, Boron Park stage 2 p.m. - Red Rock Canyon There are more than 30 parks and canyons in the U.S. named Red Rock Canyon: Parks
3 p.m. - Kiddie kid·die or kid·dy n. pl. kid·dies Slang A small child. kiddie Noun Informal a child stick-pony rodeo, Boron Park Little League field 4-9 p.m. - Swing Shift band, Boron Park stage Sunday 10 a.m. - Singles horseshoe tournament, Boron Park horseshoe pits 11 a.m. - Festival booths open, Boron Park Noon - Watermelon watermelon, plant (Citrullus vulgaris) of the family Curcurbitaceae (gourd family) native to Africa and introduced to America by Africans transported as slaves. Watermelons are now extensively cultivated in the United States and are popular also in S Russia. eating contest, Boron Park 12:45 p.m. - Magician Doug Malloy and Baboo ba·boo n. Variant of babu. Noun 1. baboo - used as a Hindi courtesy title; equivalent to English `Mr' babu the Clown, Boron Park stage 2 p.m. - Baby beauty contest, Boron Park stage 3-4 p.m. - Kiddie stick-horse rodeo, Boron Park Little League field CAPTION(S): Photo, Box PHOTO (Color in AV Edition only) The Borax Twenty Mule Team practices for its appearance Saturday in Boron during the Twenty Mule Team Days festival. BOX: (Shorter version ran in SAC Edition) TWENTY MULE TEAM DAYS HIGHLIGHTS (See text) |
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