Bishop Mule Days is an annual festival celebrating the mule, held in

Bishop, California Bishop (formerly Bishop Creek) is a city in California, United States. It is the largest populated place and only incorporated city in Inyo County. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of . The city was ...

over a six-day period leading up to

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

. More than 700 mules compete in 181 events and the largest non-motorized parade in the United States. It started as a small show in 1969 with a few hundred attendees and has grown to Bishop's largest event, attracting as many as 30,000 spectators. Among mule shows, Bishop Mule Days has been described as "The Granddaddy of Them All".

Bob Tallman Bob Tallman born Robert Matthew Tallman (born October 25, 1947) is a ProRodeo Hall of Fame American rodeo announcer. He is known as "the voice of professional rodeo". Life Bob Tallman was born Robert Matthew Tallman on October 25, 1947, in Orov ...

has been the senior announcer of Bishop Mule Days for over 20 years. Also included are an arts and crafts show, and a country and western musical concert. The featured musical performer in 2010 was Lonestar and country star

Jerrod Niemann Jerrod Lee Niemann (born July 24, 1979) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has released one single for Category 5 Records (2006); three albums for Sea Gayle Music/Arista Nashville: ''Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury'' (2010), ''F ...

performed in 2013. 2020 saw the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

as grounds for cancellation & deferral to 2021.

Parade

The annual Bishop Mule Days parade takes place on the Saturday morning before Memorial Day. The parade route runs north on

U.S. Route 395 U.S. Route 395 (US 395) is a U.S. Route in the western United States. The southern terminus of the route is in the Mojave Desert at Interstate 15 near Hesperia. The northern terminus is at the Canada–US border near Laurier, where the road ...

through downtown Bishop. No motorized vehicles or floats are allowed; all entries must either be on foot, or use mules or horses. The 2010 parade had 110 units, including 18 mule pack strings from commercial

pack station A pack station is the base of operations for transporting freight via pack animals in areas that do not allow for other forms transportation, either due to difficult access or use restrictions as defined in Wilderness Act. The station facilitates ...

s and government agencies including the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

, the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

and the

Mountain Warfare Training Center The Mountain Warfare Training Center (MWTC) is a United States Marine Corps installation located in Pickel Meadows on California State Route 108 at above sea level in the Toiyabe National Forest, northwest of Bridgeport, California. The train ...

operated by the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. Many historic mule-drawn and horse-drawn vehicles participate. Although most parade units are from California, units from Idaho, Nevada, Iowa, Arizona, Oregon and Utah participated in 2010. Grand marshalls of the parade in past years have included Ronald Reagan and

Norman Livermore Norman Banks "Ike" Livermore Jr. (March 27, 1911 – December 5, 2006) was an American environmentalist, lumber industry executive, and state official. He was the only member of California governor Ronald Reagan's cabinet to serve during t ...

. On the event of the 50th anniversary in 2019, a

twenty-mule team Twenty-mule teams were teams of eighteen mules and two horses attached to large wagons that transported borax out of Death Valley from 1883 to 1889. They traveled from mines across the Mojave Desert to the nearest railroad spur, away in Moja ...

hauled a reproduction train of borax wagons. The two borax wagons and water wagon were built over a period of several years in the 2010s at Engels Coach Shop in

Joliet, Montana Joliet is a town in Carbon County, Montana, United States. It is part of the Billings, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 577 at the 2020 census. History The construction of the Rocky Fork & Cooke City Railway in 1892 mad ...

, accurately copying the originals that are on display at Furnace Creek in

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...

, California.

Competition

Competitive events take place over a six-day period at the Tri-County Fairgrounds in Bishop. "A full slate of competitive events is featured, including events such as barrel racing, calf roping, steer stopping, cow penning, flat racing, and carriage driving. Activities also range from packing to dressage, and from team chariot racing to mule shoeing contests." There were nearly 220 classes in 2010.

The Pack Scramble

The packing scramble is a competitive event unique to Bishop Mule Days. Mule pack strings enter the arena, and are unloaded and untethered. Rodeo cowboys then stampede the herd, firing blank gunshots. The event is described as a "wild and wooly spectacular" with "more than one hundred horses and mules running loose in the arena." "Teams of professional backcountry packers compete against each other for bragging rights. Each team must wrangle its own mules out of a herd in the arena, pack them correctly, and race around to the finish line as spectators whoop, cheer and jeer." The winning team is the one that is first to reassemble and reload its pack string, and lead it out of the arena.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Bishop Mule Days
www.muledays.org
nbsp;— Bishop Mule Days official site Annual events in California Bishop, California Festivals in California Agricultural shows in the United States Equestrian sports competitions in the United States Tourist attractions in Inyo County, California Equestrian festivals Animal festival or ritual Festivals established in 1969 1969 establishments in California