Celebrate Smokey Bear's 80th birthday in Capitan May 3

Smokey Bear Days return to Capitan to celebrate Smokey's 80th birthday. The occasion is only celebrated every five years .

Smokey Bear Days begins May 3

Entry for Smokey Bear Days cost $2 for ages 13 and up and $1 for kids from 7 to 12 years old. Children 6 and under are free. The event will take place throughout Smokey Bear Boulevard and the Smokey Bear Historical Park.

Vendors - food and small local shops - will set up along Smokey Bear Boulevard. There will be a Folk Festival held at the outdoor stage of the Smokey Bear Historical Park beginning at 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.

A bike rodeo is scheduled at Smokey Bear Boulevard from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. there will be rock painting in the community park pavilion.

Smokey Bear Days continue through May 4

On May 4, the festivities will continue with a Smokey Bear parade at 10 a.m. on Smokey Bear Boulevard. From 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. the Folk Music Festival will be held at the outdoor stage of the Smokey Bear Historical Park.

Birthday cake will be served shortly after the parade on Smokey Bear Boulevard. Kids will also have the opportunity to enter in a tractor show and kids' tractor race after the parade at the Smokey Bear Historical Park. Wall climbing will be open to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and a Corn Hole Tournament is scheduled from noon to 4 p.m.

Who is Smokey Bear?

In May 1950 the Capitan Gap fire raged through Lincoln National Forest and firefighters found a badly burnt bear cub separated from its mother with little chance of survival.

The cub was brought back to a fire camp where it came under the custody of New Mexico Game and Fish who connected the story of Smokey Bear to the national wildfire prevention campaign.

"He spent the next 25 years at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., serving as an ambassador for wildfire prevention to the millions of people who visited the zoo every year. When he passed away in 1976, he was brought back to Capitan to be buried in the park that bears his name," according to a New Mexico Forestry Division news release.

Juan Corral can be reached at JCorral@gannett.com or on twitter at @Juan36Corr .

This article originally appeared on Alamogordo Daily News: Celebrate Smokey Bear's 80th birthday in Capitan May 3