Frontier Days Frontier Days History This Year Schedule of Events Bad Guys And Gals A 150th Birthday Party Buffalo Soldiers Returning Feather River Fiddle & Bluegrass Jamboree Cowboy Poet Larry Maurice Sourdough Slim Yodels His Way Into Your Heart Dave Stamey: Top Cowboy Performer The (Birthday) Tale of Two Cities Beckwourth Frontier Days Sponsors Volunteers & Sponsors Contact Frontier Days

A 150th Birthday Party For Marysville And Yuba City

By Susan Nicoletti

Consider this an invitation to a giant birthday party. And there's no better way to celebrate the 150th birthdays of Yuba City and Marysville than to experience the time and place we call Beckwourth Frontier Days and enjoy the sweet sounds of the Feather River Fiddle and Bluegrass Jamboree.

If you've never been to Beckwourth Frontier Days and the Feather River Fiddle and Bluegrass Jamboree, there's no better year to visit. For the first time in its history, Beckwourth Frontier Days and the Feather River Fiddle and Bluegrass Jamboree are FREE to all children 10 and younger, as long as they are accompanied by a parent.

One hundred and fifty years ago this fall, Yuba City was laid out as a town and Yuba City stores were advertised in Northern California newspapers. In January of 1850, Marysville was laid out as a town and a city council was elected.

These communities were developed in a region that had been populated by Native Californians who had lived here for 10,000 years. One of the last frontiers of the American west, the Sacramento Valley in the 19th century saw the arrival of mountain men, gold miners, farmers, thieves, opportunists and dreamers. The Gold Rush brought half-a-million people to California from all over the world, and many wound up right here at the confluence of the Yuba and Feather Rivers.

Beckwourth Frontier Days recreates the flavor of that period of time when the frontier was first giving way to change. Where else in one location will you find wagon trains, mountain men, a native American village, a gold mining camp, a western town with a saloon, casino and jail, and a host of crusty characters of all stripes and sizes. Look hard and you'll even see pirates, many of whom who jumped ship to head to inland California in search of gold!!

There was great enthusiasm when Yuba City and Marysville were laid out as cities. Marysville, in particular, because of its proximity to the gold mines, was expected by its earliest development interests to become "The New York of the Pacific." And in its earliest years, Marysville took on the stature of a grand city--so much so that in Plumas County, a community known as Onion Valley wanted to become "The Marysville of the Mountains."

We must never forget our frontier past. We must never forget that both Yuba City and Yuba County take their names from the Yuba River, which was named after a tribe of Maidu Indians living at present day Yuba City across from where the Yuba River emptied into the Feather River. We must not forget how difficult it was to reach California, as witnessed by the ordeal of the Donner Party. And how can we forget, when Marysville is named after one of the Donner Party survivors?

We must not forget that a variety of cultures have shared--continue to share--this land. We must not forget that people thrived for 10,000 years before "discovery" of the Sacramento Valley, and we must not forget the difficulties in raising these two cities along two very flood prone rivers.

And most of all, we must not forget that there was life before electricity, before television, before cell phones.

So I invite you all to come to tree-lined Beckwourth Riverfront Park along the beautiful Feather River in Marysville on October 2-3 to throw a tomahawk, watch a gunfight competition, listen to a yodeling cowboy, try your luck at the wheel of fortune, or enjoy the sweet sounds of bluegrass and fiddle during the Feather River Fiddle and Bluegrass Jamboree, sponsored by Feather River State Bank.

And who knows, you may even get a chance to sing happy birthday to Yuba City and Marysville.

Beckwourth Frontier Days Chair Susan Nicoletti and her husband, John, recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of their family's restaurant, the Silver Dollar Saloon in historic downtown Marysville.

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Frontier Days	Frontier Days History This Year Schedule of Events Bad Guys And Gals A 150th Birthday Party Buffalo Soldiers Returning Feather River Fiddle & Bluegrass Jamboree Cowboy Poet Larry Maurice Sourdough Slim Yodels His Way Into Your Heart Dave Stamey: Top Cowboy Performer The (Birthday) Tale of Two Cities Beckwourth Frontier Days Sponsors Volunteers & Sponsors Contact Frontier Days
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