Unearth 24-carat fun at Gold Dust Days in Gold Bar

You’ve plenty of reasons to go all the way out on U.S. 2 to Gold Bar this weekend. See if you aren’t tempted to take the trip to celebrate Gold Dust Days.

There’s panning for gold, free hay rides, an expanded car show, a classic ’50s pinup contest, the Miss Gold Dust Days Girls Pageant, sack races, live music and a bicycle parade.

Tempted yet?

How about arts and crafts, some period melodrama, Civil War Re-enactors and lots of kids activities.

In fact, there’s a special kids’ area Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a bouncy house, face painting and a new art wall contest, along with pony rides on Saturday. Rides are guided and there is a $5 fee.

Gold Dust Days runs from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. There’s a complete schedule of events and description activities at www.GoldDustDays.org.

The Classic Car Show lineup is at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Family Grocer; show off your ride down Lewis Street and back to the Car Show behind the Elementary School. The show-n-shine runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

During the car show, the Seattle band Blacktop Deceiver will play rockabilly music with a hint of blues and country and western. This band specializes in car shows.

In addition to all this, Gold Dust Days has a variety of performance acts including the Miss Gold Dust Pageant at 5 Friday night. The pageant is a performance of skits for those vying for the crowns of Miss Gold Dust.

There are six age groups from 3 years to 18 years old with multiple award categories. These competitors are tested on written work, interview skills and their own talent performance.

Other performance events during Gold Dust Days include Arabia and student troupe Abracadabra who perform belly dancing.

There’s also Dawson, who is a 16-year-old Sultan performer who started playing music at 11, influenced by The Kinks, Roy Orbison and Jack Johnson. He plays acoustic and electric guitar and he plays mostly his own compositions.

The Bluweevils will play a mix of rock n’ roll from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s with a hint of blues mixed in starting at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Besides music, the Gold Bar Red Hats’ event this year is the melodrama “Pony Espresso,” a mystery set in the Old West that has as many puns as the Old West had tumbleweeds.

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