Vail will celebrate its history and look ahead to its future Saturday with the second annual Between the Tracks celebration.
Many activities will be held in the heart of the community next to the old building that has served as a post office, a train station and a feed store — before it moved into fancier digs next door in 1994.
Money raised during the event will be used to help pay for the restoration of the building, the oldest in Vail, said J.J. Lamb, one of the event organizers.
The old adobe structure — built in the 1890s — is the first project undertaken by the Vail Preservation Society, which is sponsoring Between the Tracks.
Society members recently spent the $6,000 they'd collected so far from previous fundraisers, grants and a loan to repair parts of the building that were crumbling due to heavy rains over the winter, said Lamb, a society member.
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"We're pretty wiped out after shoring up the building, but that was the first goal," she said. "It's stable now."
The society hopes to raise about $200,000 to fully refurbish the building, which has been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.
After renovation, society members plan to use it as a mini museum and visitors center.
Chauncey Kelley, whose family owns the building, said he's glad the society has stepped in to oversee the effort that he and his sister, Patty, have been working on for years.
"We're very glad that they took it over," he said. "We'd love to see it happen. We just can't do it on our own.
"This is a win-win situation."
Project only the first
After the old post office is renovated, Lamb said, society members will move on to other projects in the greater Vail area and Cienega Creek Corridor. Suggestions for projects will be solicited at Between the Tracks, she said.
The event is named for the two sets of Union Pacific railroad tracks that straddle the community known as the Town Between the Tracks. It will be held across the road from St. Rita in the Desert Catholic Church, which will be holding its annual spring festival on Friday and Saturday (see story, page 8).
The two events should provide an interesting assortment of attractions, said Lamb, an area resident and education director at Colossal Cave Mountain Park.
"Their festival will have a lot of arts and crafts, and we will too, but ours is mainly about the history of the Vail area," Lamb said.
Much of that will be living history, to be recounted during a reunion of some 40 "pioneers" — past and present residents of the Vail area and their family members, she said.
"We've been inviting as many pioneers as we can locate — people who were there in the '30s, '40s, through the '70s," said Lamb. "We have some old-timers and members of families associated with ranching and community life in Vail."
A special tribute will be given this year to Virgil Johnson and other members of the Johnson family, who established the Johnson Ranch in the early 1900s.
Noted novelist
A newer area resident who will be at the reunion — and who has chronicled the history of the West — is Michael Blake, author of "Dances With Wolves" and the newly released novel "Indian Yell."
"We're excited he's going to be part of the event," Lamb said. "He'll be doing a presentation, a meet-and-greet, and plug his new book."
Among the other attractions:
● Storytelling and representations of frontier life as it would have been for an 1880s-era cavalry scout, among others.
● Representatives of the local Buffalo Soldiers organization, which commemorates the history of black Americans who served in the army during the Indian wars.
● Hands-on activities, such as making a corn-husk doll or a leather or adobe bookmark.
● A silent auction of a vintage quilt.
An art show at Vail Connections, next to the feed store, will feature Southwestern prints by Wes Jernigan, saguaro crosses by Royce Davenport and Navajo weavings.
There also will be lots of food and drink, live music by Western balladeer Kevin Bowman, cowboy poetry and square-dancing demonstrations.
Those in attendance will be invited to do-si-do, Lamb said.
If you go
What: Between the Tracks, Vail's annual celebration of the area's history.
When: 2-7 p.m. Saturday.
Where: "Downtown" Vail, 13105 E. Colossal Cave Road.
For more information: Contact the Vail Preservation Society by calling 762-0000 or sending an e-mail to vailpreservation society@gmail.com.
