Davenport Pioneer Days

At eleven o’clock on the Saturday of Davenport Pioneer Days, the parade starts at Morgan Street and 10th Street and runs east on Morgan, which is also U.S. Highway 2, to Harker Street. The entries gather beforehand in the Strate Funeral Home parking lot at 10th and Morgan: floats, horses, vehicles, and walking and marching units. All of them must be in their staging areas and ready for judging by ten. Riders and walkers may hand out candy and flyers along the route. A Kiddie Parade goes first, at 10:45. For the 2023 parade, organizer Jessica Smith said Morgan Street would be closed from Fourth Street to 11th Street from 10:45 until about 11:30.

Davenport is in Lincoln County, and the county courthouse stands on Logan Street. Pioneer Days runs Friday through Sunday on the third weekend in July and is put on by the Pioneer Days Committee, with Dawn Canfield as chair. The 2026 celebration was held July 17 to 19. The committee’s site gives July 16 to 18, 2027, for the next one.

Chalk and tagged fish on Friday

Friday opens early at Davenport City Park with the Kids Fishing Derby, which runs from 7:00 a.m. to noon for children 14 and under. Ten fish are tagged, and those are the winning catches. Each child is limited to two fish, which must be taken on rod and reel in the designated area. Adults may help set up the pole, bait the hook, and cast, but the child must catch and land the fish. No one may go in the water, nets are allowed for bringing a fish over the rail, and treble hooks are barred. The Davenport Lions Club organizes the derby, and in 2023 the Odessa Record named Bob Guhlke as its organizer. After the 2026 derby the committee posted that seven children had caught tagged fish. It named six of them: Oaklee Hopkins, Thomas Sawyer, Scott Wilson, Remington Taylor, Carter Collins, and Weston Abrahamson.

At nine, the Chalk Art Contest begins downtown. Artists check in at Wheatland Bank, whose staff run the contest, and each is given a numbered space on the sidewalk in the center of town. Contestants bring their own chalk or ask for some at check-in. First and second places are awarded in five age groups, from 1 to 5 years up to 18 and older. The 2026 winners were posted by first name only: Cameron, Mabel, Gianny, Alexis, and Sierra.

The Davenport Library holds a book sale on Friday and Saturday. Inside vendors sell from the Memorial Hall at 511 Park Street. On the Friday of the 2026 celebration, the hall had vendors, with Bouncing Beans coffee and Indian tacos on hand. The Kids Carnival, which the committee moved to Friday afternoon for 2026, filled City Park from noon to four with inflatables, an obstacle course, a bouncy house, games, crafts, and cupcake decorating. The day is scheduled to close at nine with a Movie in the Park, and visitors bring blankets and lawn chairs. In 2026 technical trouble cancelled the Friday showing, and Zootopia 2 played on Saturday night instead.

Saturday on Morgan Street

Saturday starts at eight with the Pioneer Plod, a 5K through Davenport’s neighborhoods. Runners check in on the west side of Davenport High School and line up at 7:45. Each finisher gets a shirt, and the design comes from a community contest that accepts only original, non-digital artwork. The Odessa Record reported that the 2023 Plod was cancelled.

By nine the vendor and craft booths are open, and the Road Knights Car Show is checking in entries at the Davenport Fire Station, 7th Street and Morgan. Awards begin at one o’clock. First places are given in stock and modified classes for cars built up to 1939 and in each later span, and for trucks from 1965 and older and 1966 and newer. There are also classes for rat rods, motorcycles, special interest vehicles, and Road Knights members’ cars. One edition of the show marked the club’s 70th anniversary. A Vitalant blood drive takes donors the same morning.

Outside vendors line Park Street and 6th Street. The 2026 list included Jeanne Lynn’s Lavender, with dried lavender, lavender oil, and goat milk lotion. Bayern Oak Wood Crafts sold wood lathe work. Raven’s Craft Corner had hand-crafted masks and puppets, and Tammy’s Unique Art showed hand-painted saws, rocks, and barnwood. A seller offered discounted subscriptions to the Spokesman-Review. Food vendors work the parking lot beside the Memorial Hall. In 2026 that meant hot dogs and sausages from Jimmy’s and Indian tacos from ArrowStar. G&R Goodies sold ribbon fries, funnel cakes, snow cones, and Pronto Pups, and the Esther Reed Chapter of the DAR sold nachos.

After the parade, the Lions Club serves a barbecue lunch in the park at noon, with music in the park through the afternoon. In 2023 the band Against the Grain played there. The Friends of Davenport Fireman’s Fund Beer Garden stays open until midnight, with live music from seven. The 2023 beer garden was at the fire station, and Jesse Quandt played the Saturday evening. That same year the Lincoln County Museum offered free admission, horseshoes, original Americana music by the Barrett Whitmore Group, and a turn at an original vintage butter churn. At three o’clock the Davenport Water Park held a town-wide Belly Flop Contest, organized by Tim Hosking.

Sunday breakfast at the Memorial Hall

The Davenport 4-H Club cooks breakfast at the Memorial Hall on Sunday from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m. The pancake plate, with sausage or bacon and a drink, costs $10.00. So does the biscuits-and-gravy plate and the two-egg omelet plate. The “everything” omelet holds sausage, bacon, cheese, mushroom, onion, green peppers, and spinach. Drinks are coffee, milk, apple juice, and orange juice. Church services are held in the park at ten.

A museum opening in 1972

According to the committee, Pioneer Days began when the town came together on July 15, 1972, to celebrate the opening of the Lincoln County Museum. “Everyone enjoyed the day so much that the celebration continues today.”

A 2016 account by Christina Ulrich in the Huckleberry Press calls the building the Davenport Museum and describes its grand opening and dedication that day. The Historical Auto Society of Spokane and the Inland Empire coordinated a parade. There were fiddlers, dancing, exhibits, and displays. Local artists demonstrated weaving, sewing, quilt making, and candle dipping, and Native dancers of Wellpinit were on the program. The second celebration added horseshoe competitions and a team of Percherons. Old-time music played from an Edison phonograph, and a demonstration called The Village Blacksmith at Work drew watchers.

The same account sets the celebration against the town’s founding. In 1880 Aloysius Harry Harker and John and Emma Nicholls platted land at Cottonwood Springs, and Harker opened a store and saloon and became the first postmaster. By 1882 John Colver Davenport had platted land on the hillside to the north, with his own store, saloon, and blacksmith shop. A fire in 1884 destroyed everything in Davenport’s town except the saloon. Cottonwood Springs took in its residents and adopted the name Davenport. Further fires came in 1898 and 1903, and Cottonwood Creek flooded in 1910, 1930, and 1950. Ulrich credits much of her material to Tannis Jeschke, curator of the Lincoln County Museum since 2005.

Grand marshals, 1976 to 2025

Ulrich writes that early celebrations honored the first families. Blue ribbons reading “Lincoln County Pioneer” went to those who claimed to be the “oldest descendant” or the “oldest pioneer couple.” Relatives of early settlers signed in with their age and family name, and the parade’s grand marshal was chosen from among them. She also notes that some local merchants dress in the clothing of the early settlers.

The committee’s list of grand marshals begins with Maude Lee in 1976. No one was named in 1980 or 1981. In 1983 there was one grand marshal from each of eight communities. From then on the honor often went to married couples, and some family names recur. Anna and May Reinbold served in 1987, Simon and Marvel Reinbold in 1992, and Herman and Beulah Reinbold in 1998. Carl Guhlke served in 1982 and Bob and Rita Guhlke in 2017. Crayton Guhlke served twice, alongside Jerry Olson in 2010 and alone in 2019. The list shows no grand marshal in 2016 or 2021. For 2020 it records “No Pioneer Days due to Covid.” The Odessa Record reported that the Kids Carnival came back in 2023 after a two-year hiatus. Joe Lilje, grand marshal with Vi Lilje in 2012, served again in 2022.

In 2023, which the Odessa Record counted as the 51st annual Pioneer Days, the people of Lincoln County voted on the grand marshal for the first time. “Normally we have the Chamber decide,” Dawn Canfield told the paper. “We put it through Facebook and the website, and we had quite a few votes go around.” The winners were Jerry and Cindy Warner, longtime locals and Care and Share volunteers, who rode in the parade on Morgan Street that Saturday. The committee’s list records them as Gerald and Cindy Warner. Rob Harper followed in 2024, and Mike and Tania Strite in 2025.