The City of Dunsmuir has a long history of celebrations, festivals, parades, baseball games, and dances. According to Dunsmuir historian, Ron McCloud, events started happening in Dunsmuir back in 1904 with a July 4th celebration of Independence Day.
The railroad town started celebrating its claim to fame in 1941 when railroad conductor and businessman, Norman Green, came up with the idea to honor old-timers and to encourage young people to pursue careers with the railroad which Dunsmuir is known for. The first event was called the “Southern Pacific Railroad Celebration” and was held on June 15 and 16 of that year.
Now the Railroad Days Festival stretches out from the evening of Friday, June 16th to Sunday, June 18th with craft and food vendors, entertainment, a cornhole and a softball tournament, a parade, children’s activities, and the popular Little Engineer Contest. Many businesses join in the fun like Siskiyou Arts Museum holding an art show of local artists called Celebrating Railroad Days Past.
5 Comments
What a wonderful small town tradition, kept alive all these years by volunteers like this year’s group who deserve a big THANK YOU and a pat on the back.
Don’t forget the many lives that were sacrificed of the Chinese immigrants who built your railroads.
Stay classy, Dunsmuir!
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I lived in Dunsmuir from 1946 to 1954 and I loved Railroad Days. I graduated from 8th grade in 1954. I don’t know if anyone I knew is still there. My maiden name was Mary Anne Carlson.
This I Mary Anne Coleman again. I messed up my email address. It’s [email protected]