The 100th anniversary of the birth of Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys, will be celebrated this weekend in Apple Valley, Calif.
The California Route 66 Museum in nearby Victorville will mark the occasion with a car show on Saturday. That also happens to be the 16th anniversary of its opening.
More about the car show can be found here.
Rogers and his wife Dale Evans lived for decades in the high desert of Apple Valley.
According to a news release from Apple Valley:
Roy “Dusty” Rogers Jr. and Dustin Roy Rogers, son and grandson, will honor his legacy in a free concert at the Civic Center Park amphitheater. […]
Steve Lewis and the Mojave River Boys will kick off the concert at Civic Center Park beginning at 1 p.m. Storytelling and reminiscing will fill the afternoon, leading to the headline concert from 2:30 – 4:30 by Roy “Dusty” Rogers Jr., featuring Dustin Roy Rogers and the High Riders, straight from Branson.
Dusty and his band perform classic cowboy, western music reminiscent of the sounds of Sons of the Pioneers, the group founded by his father. It’s always a crowd favorite when he shares his personal stories of growing up with Roy and Dale as only Dusty can do. Experience first-hand how the legacy of Roy Rogers continues in the live performances of his son and grandson.
The weekend also will feature a “Pancakes and Prayer” event, free admission at the Victor Valley Historical Museum if you announce yourself as “Roy’s guest,” and a concert at the Double R Bar Ranch by the Cross Town Cowboys.
A schedule of events for the Roy Rogers Centennial Celebration can be found here.
In the unlikely event you don’t recall who Roy Rogers is, these two clips will jolt your memory bank:
Roy Rogers once operated his own memorabilia museum just off Route 66 in the region. But attendance plunged after Roy’s death in 1998. The Rogers family moved the museum to Branson, Mo., in an effort to make a go of it, but it closed in January 2010. The Roy Rogers collection was auctioned later that summer, including the RFD-TV network buying Roy’s stuffed horse Trigger.