Saddle Up for Fun

Will Rogers Days, November 3-5, will celebrate America’s favorite cowboy humorist.

Doris “Coke” Meyer, Will Rogers’s great-niece, with Kowboy Kal, world champion trick roper, who will perform for the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch birthday party on November 4.

Will Rogers Memorial Museum opened November 4, 1938 in what is still considered one of the biggest events in Claremore’s history. Thousands of people were in attendance, and there was gridlock on roads leading into Claremore.

This year may not be the magnitude it was 73 years ago, but three days of activities will see throngs of people roaming the grounds where Will once said he would build a retirement home —  and Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch — as well as thousands lining the streets for the annual parade.

A time-old tradition, dating from 1938, will be the Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club ­tribute to Will Rogers, fulfilling a promise they made on the day the museum opened. They vowed then to honor him every year on his birthday. The Pocahontas celebration, “Hats Off to Will,” will be from 2 to 4 p.m. on Friday, November 4, the anniversary of his birth in 1879.

“Cherokee women who have earned distinction will be especially honored,” said Ollie Starr, Pocahontas Club president. Lisa Faulkner Wood, descendant of original members of Pocahontas Club (formed in 1899), will place a basket of fall foliage at the Will Rogers statue in the Memorial rotunda. Club members will place a wreath on the Rogers family tomb after walking from the museum to drumbeats by Dee Ketchum. They will entertain at a tea in the museum following the ritual ceremonies.

Several hundred children will take part in Children’s Day at the Museum on Thursday, November 3, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. An event added three years ago, it will give children an opportunity to not only get acquainted with Will Rogers, but also traditions of his Cherokee heritage. Special sections of the museum and grounds will be designated for Cherokee storytelling, music, trick roping, old-fashioned outdoor games and an original musical by children of the Oologah-Talala school.

Children will be the centerpiece of a birthday party from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Friday,  November 4, at the ranch where Will was born near Oologah. World champion trick roper Kowboy Kal will entertain with trick roping and whip cracking, and the Oologah-Talala school children, directed by Kim Grazier, will sing.

Will Rogers Days close with an antique and classic car show at the museum from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and the annual parade.

The parade down Will Rogers Boulevard, Claremore’s main street renamed in honor of Will Rogers, has been a regular event. It will begin at 4 p.m. at the Claremore Expo Center.

Schedule of Events

Thursday, November 3
10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Will Rogers Memorial Museum
Children’s Day at the Museum
Oologah-Talala Children’s Musical
Cherokee Storyteller Robert Lewis
Sing-Along with Gene Lloyd
Trick Roping
Outside Games

Friday, November 4
9:30 a.m.-Noon
Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch
Birthday Party
Oologah-Talala Children’s Musical
Kowboy Kal
Birthday Cake

Friday, November 4
2-4 p.m.
Will Rogers Memorial Museum
Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club
“Hats Off to Will”
Wreath-laying at Rogers Family Tomb
Rededication of Akdar Shrine plaque on south portico wall of museum

Saturday, November 5
11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Will Rogers Memorial Museum
Antique and Classic Car Show, Music, Food Concessions

Saturday, November 5
4 p.m.
Will Rogers Boulevard
Will Rogers Days Parade
(Lineup at Claremore Expo-Recreation Center parking lot, travels down Will Rogers Boulevard through Claremore)

 For more information, contact

Will Rogers Memorial Museums

(918) 341-0719