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Show . - r t - , i I . s. - v ... ' ' I , ' ' , . . i i . .... . ' ' : . '.(..' ; VVU -. .... - ,, v., I " ' ',, .1 I ' --' I ; f ! ' , i i- .. - - 'j Actors in the Ebenezer Bryce murder-mystery melodrama, melodra-ma, Brett Palmer, Mclain Mecham and Klancy Ott on horse back, Sheriff Mike Burbidge, Mayor Jean Seiler and farmerrancher Stan Mecham gather at the "hanging TROPIC Those who put so many hours of thought and preparation into the activities last week at the First Annual Ebenezer Bryce Festival chit take a bow. " Not only were the activities fun and exiting but just plain clean-cut, funny and relaxing. On Friday evening, the two-day two-day fest began with a catered beef brisket dinner prepared by Kortney Ahlstrom and Hoo-Doos Hoo-Doos Restaurant in Tropic. They served over 120 people and no one went away hungry. Following dinner in the park, residents and tourists alike gathered gath-ered on bales of hay set out on the basketball court adjacent to the pavilion to await the start of ( program that folks had heard .ci little about. Dave Roberts of Buffalo Sage Bed and Breakfast stood up before the group to share a few anecdotes and introduced his sister, Alice Wolf to sing a number. Alice just begins to launch into her performance when suddenly Wally Orton comes running onto the stage and announces he has found the body of legendary Dan Digger, a fictitious local who, the group discovers, may have been killed for his newly discovered gold. The developing melodrama begins to draw members of the audience into the intrigue of the little murder mystery, and soon folks are fully involved. The entire group heads across the park to see the "body of Dan Digger" and hear their neighbors, neigh-bors, assigned with simple speaking parts, speculate to the crowd about who dun it to Ole Dan Digger and why. Everybody heads back to the tree," in Tropic Park. The group quickly changed out the real Stan Mecham for a dummy they hung in efigy, solving solv-ing the supposed mystery. The melodrama took place last weekend as part of the First Annual Ebenezer Bryce days. First Annual Ebenezer Bryce Fest Is Successful And Lots Of Fun For All bales of hay and a kangaroo court promptly, charging four local people, each playing their melodramatic parts to the hilt: Ellen Clarke, a homemaker and suspected witch; Jean Seiler the local mayor (not too far from the actual truth, was it?), Wally Orton as a local businessman and Stan Mecham as a cattleman cattle-man and rancher, each thought to have had a valid reason to kill old Dan Digger. Speculation emotes to a fiery pitch when suddenly henchmen on horseback, played by Brett Palmer, McLain Mecham and Klancy Ott, aided by several others, pronounce Stan Mecham as the guilty party and spirit him away to a nearby tree for hanging. hang-ing. At the end Stan (replaced at the last minute with a look-alike dummy) has the horse kicked out from under him and hangs, swinging from the tree. The little lit-tle melodrama was so engaging and full of gut-wrenching laughter laugh-ter that folks have been talking about it all week. Following the drama, local businessman and cowboy poet Mike Burbidge related a couple of poems in a performance that was originally planned for a short segue into the band's playing. play-ing. Electrical problems kept Burbidge on stage for nearly half an hour, but he carried off his one-man show with modesty, mod-esty, professionalism and an innate talent for story telling. The evening ended with a street dance to the tunes of the Emett Family Band, enjoyed by folks of all ages. On Saturday, the Ebenezer Bryce Festival kicked off again, with a Lions Club-sponsored breakfast followed by a couple of bake sales and booths with crafts, crocheting, roping, artists, powder shoot, arm wrestling, cross-cut saw contest, kids games, Navajo tacos, quick draw art and auction, and target golf. The day's activities were capped off by a local yee haw talent show and square dancing. The Bryce Valley Business Association which sponsored the first-time event looks forward for-ward to an annual repetition of the fun that promises to get bigger big-ger and better every year. |