FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 22, 2024
For more information: Audra Dominguez, Festival Director
info@wyomingdiscoverydays.org 904-874-2560
WYOMING DISCOVERY DAYS IN HOT SPRINGS STATE PARK FIRST WEEK-END IN AUGUST WELCOMES THE PITT MASTERS BBQ TEAM & ALSO CELEBRATES WITH A DUTCH OVEN COOK OFF & A BELOVED BLACKSMITH
Wyoming Discovery Days Folk Festival takes place Saturday and Sunday, August 3 and 4, 2024, in Hot Springs State Park, Thermopolis, Wyoming. Join us as we celebrate Wyoming’s unique cultural heritage through stories, music, food, art, and demonstrations.
This year Wyoming Discovery Days welcomes for the first time the Pitt Masters BBQ Team represented by BLAZING STAR BBQ, EL VAQUERO BBQ & CATERING, AND SUPER SKEWER. They will be grilling up various meats all weekend demonstrating their craft, featuring their very own sauces, rubs and spices and entraining with the LIVE FIRE EXTRAVAGANZA. Make sure to stop by to ask any questions you have, watch them work, taste what they are grilling up and grab a photo with them while you’re at it!
Another first for the festival this year is the Dutch Oven Cooking Competition. This delicious demonstration of traditional trail camp cooking will be sure to please the attendees. Stop by to sample what’s cookin’! Saturday the contestants will be cookin’ up a savory dish and Sunday they show off their sweet treat skills. Judging takes place at 3 pm both days, make sure to stop by to cast your vote in the people choice category! Grand prize for the competition is a Montana Silver Smith (rodeo style) belt buckle with the Event, Date, Name of Winner and camp cook scene all engraved. Other prizes offered as well for daily winners. If you would like to try your hand at winning that buckle, there’s still time to enter the competition. Email info@WyomingDiscoveryDays.org or visit the website for details.
A returning favorite feature this year will be David Osmundsen, Arrowhead Forge School of Blacksmithing. David’s background in iron trade goods from the fur trade binds his love of history with his passion for forging. As he forges, David will teach the history of blacksmithing and explain and demonstrate the general ability to fashion a variety of important items out of iron and steel. People will be able to see his handmade blacksmithing tools and ask questions, while David fashions several different objects throughout the two-day event, using different tools and techniques. “My goal,” David says, “is not to duplicate nature but to borrow designs from the environment and create functional iron objects using those designs.”
David comes to Wyoming Discovery Days from the town of Buffalo. His love of blacksmithing goes deeper than his own roots. His 1890’s home was originally owned by a blacksmithing family and his shop was built on the site where they did some of their work shoeing horses and repairing carriages. David continues this tradition by creating gates, railings, pot racks, along with creating modern forged iron art. He loves sharing this art form with the public through demonstrations and workshops. If you are interested in blacksmithing, be sure to visit David during Wyoming Discovery Days.
The festival is open to the public without charge. Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund and Wyoming Humanities Council have provided special funding to help with the event. There is additional funding from local and state sponsors including the public and private sector.
Visit our website for an entry form if you are interested in participating in Wyoming Discovery Days. Accepting: Artists, Craftsman, Trading Post Sellers, Demonstrators, Food Trucks & Breweries. wyomingdiscoverydays.org
Contact info@wyomingdiscoverydays.org for specific inquiries or visit wyomingdiscoverydays.org