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Pony Express to ride during Butterfield
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| Pony Express: Customers can mail items via Pony Express from Lions Park during Butterfield Days activities Oct. 10-12. Pictured are the commemorative stamps. (Terri Jo Neff/photo.) |
Terri Jo Neff/Special to the News-Sun
This year's Butterfield Overland Stage Days will be held Oct. 10-12, and event organizers say a number of activities are planned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the historic stagecoach route.
"This year's Butterfield Days has something for everyone, including a movie in the park, a parade, a chili cook off, a live pioneer village and Ranger camp, a car show, and our Hot Air Balloon festival," notes Kim Lockhart, president of the Benson / San Pedro Valley Chamber of Commerce.
She and Beverly Purscell, owner of United Country Arrowhead Realty are coordinating the three-day event.
One of the most popular annual Butterfield Days activities is the running of the Pony Express, complete with horseback riders who are legally sworn in to serve as temporary U.S. mail carriers.
According the Benson postmaster Lesley Tower, the riders collect mail from a special post office set up at Lion's Park, and carry it by horse to the Dragoon Station post office 21 miles east. The riders will be sworn in during a special ceremony at the Lion's Park ramada at noon on Saturday, Oct. 11.
The Pony Express run garners special attention each year, because a special commemorative cancellation stamp is used on each letter that goes in the Pony Express mail bags. Not only do area residents love to send mail through the Pony Express, says Tower, but people throughout southeast Arizona will bring mail to Benson that morning just so it can be carried by Pony Express.
In addition, the special cancellation stamp is valid for 30 days after the event, so stamp enthusiasts worldwide send mail to the Benson post office for it to be hand cancelled with the commemorative stamp. There is no charge for this special processing.
The 2008 cancellation stamp was designed by Benson post office clerk Serena Melesh, who is also a well-known artist. Melesh has worked at the post office for 13 years, and she also designed the 2007 cancellation stamp.
Melesh's drawing took a number of hours to complete, and had to be approved through a lengthy process at U.S. postal service in Washington D.C. Tower says she has nominated Melesh for special recognition within the postal service for her efforts.
The special Butterfield Days post office will open at 9 a.m. Oct.11 at Lion's Park, and the riders will depart for Dragoon shortly after the swearing-in ceremony at noon.
For a list of all the Butterfield Days events, check out the Chamber's Web site at www.bensonchamberaz.com www.bensonchamberaz.com or call 586-2842.
This year's Butterfield Overland Stage Days will be held Oct. 10-12, and event organizers say a number of activities are planned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the historic stagecoach route.
"This year's Butterfield Days has something for everyone, including a movie in the park, a parade, a chili cook off, a live pioneer village and Ranger camp, a car show, and our Hot Air Balloon festival," notes Kim Lockhart, president of the Benson / San Pedro Valley Chamber of Commerce.
She and Beverly Purscell, owner of United Country Arrowhead Realty are coordinating the three-day event.
One of the most popular annual Butterfield Days activities is the running of the Pony Express, complete with horseback riders who are legally sworn in to serve as temporary U.S. mail carriers.
According the Benson postmaster Lesley Tower, the riders collect mail from a special post office set up at Lion's Park, and carry it by horse to the Dragoon Station post office 21 miles east. The riders will be sworn in during a special ceremony at the Lion's Park ramada at noon on Saturday, Oct. 11.
The Pony Express run garners special attention each year, because a special commemorative cancellation stamp is used on each letter that goes in the Pony Express mail bags. Not only do area residents love to send mail through the Pony Express, says Tower, but people throughout southeast Arizona will bring mail to Benson that morning just so it can be carried by Pony Express.
In addition, the special cancellation stamp is valid for 30 days after the event, so stamp enthusiasts worldwide send mail to the Benson post office for it to be hand cancelled with the commemorative stamp. There is no charge for this special processing.
The 2008 cancellation stamp was designed by Benson post office clerk Serena Melesh, who is also a well-known artist. Melesh has worked at the post office for 13 years, and she also designed the 2007 cancellation stamp.
Melesh's drawing took a number of hours to complete, and had to be approved through a lengthy process at U.S. postal service in Washington D.C. Tower says she has nominated Melesh for special recognition within the postal service for her efforts.
The special Butterfield Days post office will open at 9 a.m. Oct.11 at Lion's Park, and the riders will depart for Dragoon shortly after the swearing-in ceremony at noon.
For a list of all the Butterfield Days events, check out the Chamber's Web site at www.bensonchamberaz.com www.bensonchamberaz.com or call 586-2842.
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