Mule Days Celebration

At seven in the morning on the Tuesday before Memorial Day, the English classes open in the Main Arena of the Tri-County Fairgrounds in Bishop, and the driving classes follow on the same ground. By eleven, dressage is underway in East Arena 1. In the afternoon a crowd gathers at the Clinic Round Pen, where Jerry Tindell gave a session called “Effective Mulemanship” on the first day of the 2026 celebration. That was the 56th annual Bishop Mule Days Celebration. It ran from May 19 to May 24 under the theme “250 Years of Long Ears-Celebrating Mules & America.”

Fourteen shows on the fairgrounds

The organizers describe the event as part mule show, part test of skills, and part Wild West show, and say it is held nowhere else in the world. Their own count is 14 shows over six days, more than 500 mules with their trainers, riders, and packers, and more than 20,000 fans at the fairgrounds and the Mike Boothe Arena. The Bishop visitor bureau’s Gigi de Jong counts more than 700 mules and more than 30,000 fans over five days. The Death Valley Conservancy gives 700 mules and 30,000 spectators over six days. The organizers list the fourteen shows as western, youth, English, ranch versatility, racing, dressage, gymkhana, packing, halter, chariot racing, team roping, and driving. De Jong adds barrel racing and shoeing. The motto, in the visitor bureau’s wording, is “Anything a good horse can do, a good mule can do better.”

The week builds toward its weekend. In 2026 Wednesday brought western dressage, a clinic on “Saddles and Britchens” by Chris Clark, and one by Lori Barnett titled “Tips for Aging Riders.” Thursday began at 7 a.m. with gymkhana, the first go of team roping and steer stopping, ranch and trail classes, and the Lions Club Pancake Breakfast in the Fairgrounds Food Alley. The School Days’ Show followed at 9:30. Clinics ran through the day, among them Anna Baglione’s “Let’s Tie Some Knots” and Maggy Jennings’s “I Wanna Be A Packer.” The vendor booths opened at noon. That night Jerrod Niemann and Carson Chandler played the Charles Brown Auditorium.

Friday belonged to the packers. Packing clinics filled the round pen from eight to noon, and packing classes began in East Arena 1 at three. Cattle classes and two more goes of team roping took the Main Arena. In the vendor area that week, three men named Cody, Trevor, and Zech built a custom saddle in public view. The evening opened with the Carl Lind Western Pleasure Stake at 6:45, and the 7 p.m. show belonged to the hired entertainers. Liberty Cunningham, billed as “Liberty’s Legend,” is a 15-year-old trick rider, Roman rider, and liberty horse performer. She is one of the youngest contract act entertainers in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Her signature act uses four horses and four disciplines: trick riding, Roman riding, liberty, and bridleless. She works with matching paint horses she trained herself. She takes as her motto a line credited to Calamity Jane: “If a girl wants to be a legend, she should just go ahead and be one.” The rodeo clown Matt Tarr, raised in Cody, Wyoming, shared the bill.

For the ticketed shows the organizers name Bob Tallman and Steve Kenyon as the veteran announcers. The Death Valley Conservancy names Bob Tallman and Bob Feist. Grandstand seats face north and are assigned for the whole week. Rows I and above sit under cover, with Section A in the morning sun and Section E in the evening sun. The general admission bleachers are unshaded. Mules and donkeys are stabled in the barns and stalls, and guests may walk among them. Under state and Mule Days biosecurity rules, visitors are asked not to pet or feed them.

Saturday on Main Street

Parade entrants begin leaving the fairgrounds as early as 7 a.m. on Saturday. They take the back streets of Bishop to the south end of town. Main Street closes to cars at 9:30. At 10:00 the parade steps off at South and Main, moves north up Main Street, turns left at Sierra Street, and ends at the fairgrounds gate. Every entry is powered by animals or people, and mules pull most of them. The organizers call it the World’s Longest Non-Motorized Parade and say it was once in the Guinness World Records. The visitor bureau says it is believed to be the longest in the country. On the eve of the 2026 parade, the organizers asked spectators to wait until Saturday morning to set out their chairs.

De Jong writes that some years the parade passes in sunshine, when shorts and dusty boots are enough. Other years winter returns, and the crowd stands on the sidewalks in heavy jackets holding hot coffee. She also warns drivers that on Mule Days weekend they may find a mule-drawn wagon or a mounted cowboy going through a fast-food drive-through window.

Since 2017 the replica wagons of the 20 Mule Team, built in the pattern of the trains that hauled borax out of Death Valley after 1881, have appeared in the Rose Parade. They are on permanent display at Laws Railroad Museum, six miles north of Bishop. In 2026 the Death Valley Conservancy brought two of them into the celebration. The water wagon stood on display in the auditorium. Six mules pulled the front freight wagon in the parade and the arena, with Bo Tanner driving and a crew that included Conservancy members. Many parade entries go on to the 1:00 p.m. Mule Show, where they ride in the Grand Entry in the Main Arena. The Saturday program ends with a dance in the Charles Brown Auditorium at 9:30 p.m.

A few blocks south of the fairgrounds, the Memorial Day Arts & Crafts Show fills Bishop City Park at 688 North Main Street. The Inyo Council for the Arts runs it. For children there are kiddie corrals and hands-on lessons in the work of a professional packer.

A packers’ send-off

The volunteers who run Mule Days say its slogan, “Every Memorial Day Weekend,” honors the men and women in uniform as much as it marks the date. Sunday morning opens with Cowboy Church at ten in the Charles Brown Auditorium. The 2 p.m. Mule Show carries a veteran salute, with free seating in a set-aside section of the grandstand for veterans and active-duty military. Thirty minutes after that show, in 2026, the world and reserve champions received their awards on the Coso stage, with live music by Giacomo. On Monday at 11 a.m. the V.F.W. holds Memorial Day services at the East Line Street Cemetery.

The organizers say Mule Days began in 1970. De Jong dates its start to 1969. On both accounts it began as an informal gathering and test of skills among mule packers, marking the start of the summer packing season in the high Sierra. The Mule Days account adds a second purpose. The outfitters and packers wanted an event to open their season, and Bishop’s businessmen wanted to draw vacationers to the Owens Valley. The Mammoth Times called it in its first form “a humble one-day tribute to the packing community.” That trade continues. De Jong counted at least 16 active mule pack stations in the Sierra Nevada. They supply Forest Service trail crews, mountaineering base camps, and hikers on the Pacific Crest and John Muir trails. According to the Mammoth Times, founder Bob Tanner raised the early money from neighbors and small businesses, $10, $20, and $50 at a time.

The appeal of 2024

In November 2024 the Bishop Mule Days board said the 54-year-old event faced an uncertain future. It cited the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in operations, and unexpected revenue loss, and it asked the community for $100,000 to carry the celebration into 2025 and beyond. By then the six-day event was produced by more than 700 volunteers and three paid staff. The board said hotel occupancy in Bishop reached as high as 92 percent during the week. Executive director Donna Bird said a final contract with Tri-County Fair interim CEO Mike Francesconi was under negotiation. Board president Amanda Tallman said, “Support today can make the difference between keeping this event alive or losing it forever.” The board said it took heart from Bob Tanner’s small-dollar beginnings.

The celebration went on in 2025 and again in 2026, and the 2027 edition is set for May 25 to 30. “Many people do not remember a Bishop without a Mule Days,” Bird said. “Bishop and Mule Days are synonymous, with Bishop being recognized worldwide as the ‘Mule Capital of the World.’”