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 Sandy Boone Collection (S-2006-154-18)


Springdale Morning News Collection (S-93-95-46)

LEFT: “Mac” McRoberts being dunked by Charles Tansey (left) and Wayne High, Emma Avenue, Springdale, 1952.

RIGHT: Western Days winners, Springdale Bank & Trust, Springdale, June 30, 1989.

Springdale merchants decorated their businesses to promote rodeo spirit. During Western Week residents were asked to wear at least two pieces of western-style clothing. In 1950 the Whisker Club began and men were encouraged to grow beards. Those who didn’t could purchase shaving permits, with the proceeds going to rodeo festivities.

 Folks who didn’t comply might be fined a small fee, dunked in a stock tank full of water, or tried by a “kangaroo court” and sent to “jail” until they were bailed out. In 1953 the guilty party might also have found himself the temporary caretaker of a “flap-eared burro.”

In 1950 the Whisker Club was challenged by the men of Pea Ridge who, for some unknown reason, had begun growing beards weeks earlier. Springdale lost most of the beard-growing competitions (best groomed, most Abe-Lincoln-like), and were teased as “short beards.”

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Shiloh Museum of Ozark History • 118 W. Johnson Avenue • Springdale, AR 72764 • 479-750-8165
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