Pawnee County Oklahoma Events

Pawnee County Oklahoma Events

Annual events include a powwow, a rodeo, Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show and Festival , and the Oklahoma Steam and Gas Engine Show held in Pawnee

The Original Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show & Festival
The 2 "Bills" were pioneers of the old west. Major Gordon W. Lillie was given the name Pawnee Bill by the Pawnees when he came to Indian Territory as a young boy of seventeen. Pawnee Bill and Buffalo Bill rode together in what was to be thefirst of the Wild West Shows in 1883. "The Only Show of its Kind" - A show that once toured across America and Europe - Thrilling young and old has now become an annual event with a cast of 100's re-enacting the world famous Pawnee Bill Wild West Show. Each summer the hill side on BlueHawk Peak at the Pawnee Bill Buffalo Ranch comes alive with trick riders, trick ropers, shootings, hangings - a battle between the cowboys and Indians ... it's the west at its best.

In conjunction with The Pawnee Bill Wild West Show, come downtown on the square for arts and crafts, entertainment, and rides - Friday through Sunday. FAST DRAW COMPETITION Saturday. The west at its best!

Third weekend in June.

The World's Largest Free Pow Wow
The Pawnees moved to Oklahoma Territory in 1874 and to this day retain many of their ancestors beliefs and customs. A ceremony for the braves who died in battle and honoring the returning warriors has become the "World's Largest 'Free' Pow Wow."

* Most colorful outdoor spectacle in America
* Four nights - Thursday through Sunday
* Native costumes, snake dances, eagle dances, and much more
* Parade in downtown Pawnee - Saturday at noon
* Its all FREE

Weekend of the 4th of July each year - Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Rodeo Week
Become a part of the cattle drive and wagon trains, judge the chili and barbecue cook-offs, buy some cowboy crafts, and enjoy rides and games...

AND the toughest sport in the country - Bulls, broncs and beauties; clowns, kids, and cowboys - Wild cow milkin', wild horse racin', wild? sheep ridin' ... It's fun, it's exciting, it's RODEO!

August each year, a weekend of family entertainment, 3 big nights; Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Cook-off and parade downtown, Saturday.

Pawnee Tribal Headquarters and School
The town of Pawnee, Oklahoma, was first a trading post on Bear Creek, and then the agency for the Pawnee tribe after their removal from Nebraska.

The 646 acre Pawnee Tribal Reserve is home for the Pawnee Tribe Agency offices. The old Pawnee Indian School buildings, most of which have been restored, are being used by the Tribe. All of these buildings are on the National Register of Historic Buildings. The Tribal Hospital, now just a clinic, is still in use. The grounds also contain the new roundhouse and campgrounds, that are used for the Tribes dances and
gatherings.

An Indian Agency Monument honors the Pawnee Nation's orginal
tribal leaders, and a marker tells tales of the tribe's early hardships.

WPA Historic Bathhouse
One can almost hear the summertime laughter echoing through the various levels and verandas of this uniquely designed bathhouse carved from native stone in 1939 by President Franklin Roosevelt's WPA public works program. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It now serves as part of the Outdoor Classroom of the Environmental Education Center located at Pawnee Lake.

State Highway 18, North of Pawnee
Turn left after crossing the dam

Rough Rider Monument
Dedicated to Roosevelt's Rough Riders buried at a nearby cemetery, this is the only monument dedicated to the Rough Riders in Oklahoma.

Located in the Highland Cemetery
3 miles north of Pawnee on Hwy 18.

Pawnee Bill Ranch
Visit the Pawnee Bill Ranch site and see some of the last remnants of the legendary Old West. Drive through the buffalo pasture and view buffalo, longhorn, and elk as they might have looked to a pioneer traveling across the prairie. Walk through the log cabin, blacksmith shop, and the Indian flower shrine and take a walk back into time. Tour Pawnee Bill's dream home and visualize life in 1910 Oklahoma with Pawnee Bill memorabilia, photographs, and much more.

In 1903 Pawnee Bill purchased land from Blue Hawk, his Pawnee friend whom he had met prior to his coming to Indian Territory in 1879, and built a log cabin on the property for himself and May. Their dream home was started on the highest point of the property in 1908 and completed in 1910 when they moved into that building and left the log cabin for ranch hands to use. A blacksmith shop, a large goldfish pond, and an Indian Flower shrine were also constructed on the site during those years. A large three-story barn was added to the property in 1926 to house Pawnee Bill's Scottish shorthorn cattle.

On Blue Hawk Peak at the west edge of Pawnee, Oklahoma, stands a monument to Oklahoma's fabulous past. It is a huge bungalow of rough, buff-colored stone, held together with red tile. Its hardwood interior, selected from the rarest and most expensive mahogany, is arranged so that the spacious rooms are thrown together with nothing buy open arches, pillars, fretwork and portieres to obstruct the vision. The windows, of the finest imported beveled glass, reach to the floor.

A $100,000 Mansion, built in 1910, it stands furnished as in the days of its completion, the living room rugged with Oriental weavings and an occasional monster bear, buffalo, or lion skin; its furniture leathered in red and brown to harmonize with the dark, precious woods, a huge open fireplace with solid bronze andirons and mantel; drop chandeliers of diamond cut glass and gold stained frieze creeping up to an old "Dutch ceiling. Fourteen rooms in all with walls decorated with the most appropriate hangings and portraits.