Two events — a half a continent apart — honoring Will Rogers, earned state awards in October.
“Welcome Back to the Ranch, the Rededication of the Will Rogers State Historic Park,” won Los Angeles’ top public relations prize. The award was presented in Hollywood for category of nonprofit, one-day special event, budget less than $25,000.
In Oklahoma City, the Will Rogers Museum earned the Red Bud Award from Oklahoma Travel Industry Association at the annual Governors Conference on Tourism. The award was for the Museum’s role in production of the Will Rogers Wild West International Expo, a convention and contest of western arena arts.
Peers from other states judged entries in both.
In California, members of the Rogers family, especially Jennifer Rogers Etcheverry, daughter of Will Rogers’s grandson, Kem; and Bette Rogers Coop and Chuck Rogers, children of the late Jim Rogers, worked with staff of the Will Rogers Santa Monica Ranch, California Department of Parks and Recreation, Will Rogers Cooperative and Killeen Furtney Group.
The Wild West Show, a cooperative effort of the Will Rogers Museums, Wild West Arts Club and city of Claremore was an April event, which brought visitors from most of the United States and several foreign countries to Claremore and the Will Rogers birthplace near Oologah.
A world record in rope twirling (the largest loop) was set during the 2006 April event.
WWAC will return to Claremore in April for the annual convention and competition.
The California ranch event was in September, marking rededication of restoration of the ranch and grounds where Will and Betty Rogers raised their sons and lived until their deaths.
Mrs. Rogers deeded the property to the state of California in 1944.
The $5 million restoration of the house and grounds and other structures has restored the landscape to the appearance in the early 1930s.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Marie Shriver, who boarded horses at the ranch before his was elected governor, attended the California event. Jim Hartz, Will Rogers Memorial Commission chairman; Michelle and Joe Carter, Will Rogers Museum; and Rogers’ Oklahoma kin Doris “Coke” Meyer of Bartlesville and Bob and Jean McSpadden of Vinita made up an Oklahoma contingent. Will Rogers was Meyer and McSpadden’s great-uncle. McSpadden was raised on the Oologah ranch, where his father was ranch manager.