La Salle County residents came out in droves over the weekend to take part in several Wild Bill Days celebrations.

150 years after James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok’s death, commemorative events in Utica, Mendota, and Troy Grove are helping residents further their understanding of one of the Illinois Valley’s most famous figures.

“I thought it was great, an excellent presentation of the history,” Chris Sanford of Earlville said.

Sanford and his granddaughter attended the Sunday afternoon Buffalo Bill’s Best of the Wild West Show in Utica, after seeing the Walt Willey one-man show in Mendota on Saturday.

“The Buffalo Bill show is just fun because of the animals and the guns and everything,” Sanford said.

The 80-minute show has been an annual tradition in Utica since 2019, thanks in large part to the efforts of the La Salle County Historical Society, located just north of the site of this weekend’s shows behind Jamie’s Outpost.

Attendees saw equestrian tricks and trick shots with period firearms as the story of Buffalo Bill and his connection to Wild Bill Hickok unfolded.

Attendees also got a glimpse of life in the Old West through a series of exhibits outside the show, featuring clothing, firearms, games, pelts, goods, teepees, and more.

“I think the animals and the show help attract people and then they are more open to learning about the history,” Sanford’s granddaughter, Kendall, said.

The younger Sanford realized the aim of Executive Director of the La Salle County Historical Society, Amanda Carter, who said last week, “The more we can teach our younger generations about our local history, we’ll have a better rate of people getting more involved as they get older and carrying on this torch and preserving La Salle County’s rich history.”

This year’s turnout in Utica was largely a success, Daniel Vogt, a member of the show group, said.

“I think not only the fact that it’s Hickok’s 150th (anniversary), but that it’s the country’s 250th really helps,” he said. “It gets people into the nostalgia and wanting to look back at things like the old western movies. Plus, this is just a great show for people to see.”

Buffalo Bill’s Best of the Wild West Show is run annually in Utica, but the other two sites of the weekend’s celebration popped up to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Hickok’s death.

In Hickok’s hometown of Troy Grove, the Old West Regulators put on a 12-scene re-enactment performance of the “Life and Times of James Butler Hickok”, and in Mendota, where Hickok returned to late in his abbreviated life, Walt Willey performed a one-man monologue show, “The End of the Trail”, to highlight Wild Bill’s life experiences in the Illinois Valley and to tell the story of Hickok’s death in Deadwood, South Dakota.