Reardan’s Mule Days: 119 years of traditions old and new

A community festival the first weekend in June brings a chance to enjoy small town fun just a little more than 20 miles west of Spokane.

Reardan’s Mule Days on Saturday is an assemblage of activities starting with what’s believed to be the largest parade in Lincoln County. Some 60 floats are expected.

Traditionally, a two-mule team would carry the grand marshals in an antique buggy, but this year the marshals will ride in a convertible because one of the mules, Rosie, is growing too old for the parade and has retired, Parade Chairman Leanne Merkel said.

The 2023 grand marshals are Kalae Chock and Sam Adams, the anchors of “The Wake Up Show “on KHQ News.

A 3-on-3 basketball tournament is a warmup for Hoopfest, and other highlights include a car show, food, live music and dancing in the street.

“We are really thrilled and blessed to have our friends and neighbors come out and share some laughs together and make more memories,” Merkel said. “That’s what is so great about small towns.”

Not much is known about the first celebration in 1904, but it was founded as a gathering of friends and neighbors and they called it Mule Day.

Those early days involved a mule show in which teams of up to 20 mules were judged and admired by large crowds.

A horse race was later replaced with a race of Model T automobiles, according to a 1949 Spokesman-Review article.

Around the middle of the century, Mule Day was renamed “Community Day” then later switched back to “Mule Days” as it became a weekendlong event. The two names have been interchangeable since.

Many events and traditions have come and gone over the years. In the 1970s, homemade paddle rafts raced across Audubon Lake, Merkel said.

The lake was also the site of snowmobile races, hydroplaning as far as they could before sinking.

Two new events started last year: a cornhole tournament and a poker ride – a 9.5-mile horse or mule trail ride in which equestrians stop at stations along the way to draw face cards from a dealer. The rider with the best poker hand at the end wins.

The Mule Days Association loves to hear ideas for new events, Merkel said. “We just need volunteers to plan them.”

She would like to see a pickle ball tournament.

Mule Days is a day of family events and fellowship. It also supports community projects with funds raised from vendor fees and raffle tickets.

This year, two new “Welcome to Reardan” signs will be installed on both ends of town on Highway 2, replacing signs from 1961. The new signs have an American flag cutout design made by a local sign maker.

“I love being part of a healthy and amazing tight-knit community,” Merkel said. “We don’t get together and raise barns anymore, but Reardan is the kind of place that if you need help, your friends and neighbors will chip in.”