Fallon’s Heritage of the West — Histories, Poetry, Music, and Stories

By Leanna Lehman

America’s Western heritage is alive and well in Fallon, Nevada. Last Saturday, April 13, music, dance, poetry, and performance art—storytelling’s most timeless mediums—were brought to the Fallon Community Theatre stage to celebrate Nevada’s beloved Western culture and traditions. 

The Heritage of the West event, organized by Fallon Community Theatre and spearheaded by Jessica Huckabee, showcased the musical talents of the Lincoln Highway Band and Chip Noll, with his original western songs, along with a vibrant performance by the Nuestra Herencia Mexicana Dance Group and by Native American dancers from Northern Nevada. In addition, several pieces of locally written cowboy poetry were read by Stuart Richardson and Star Olsen. 

Churchill County Museum Director Mel Glover introduced some historical crime and intrigue onto the stage. In a Chautauqua performance, Glover brought to life an early 1900s Hazen man who had the misfortune of burying Nevada Red twice. The notorious criminal was lynched in the town jail, buried, exhumed, and rehung on a telephone pole for a journalist with Nevada State Journal who insisted on a photograph of the hanging. Mel Glover pictured right.

Kicking off the dance performances were local Native American dancers resplendent in vibrant regalia: fine leather, eagle feathers, porcupine quills, hand-selected beads, jingling adornments originally fashioned from tobacco tins, and more. 

In addition to the pageantry, each dance told beautiful stories and histories, including the maiden who transformed herself from a mourning wife in a cocoon into a beautiful butterfly in the Fancy Dance, performed by Shannon Hooper (pictured below). The Sneak Dance tells the tale of a young warrior who snuck into the violence of a raging melee to find his friend who hadn’t returned from battle. 

The dancers, all part of the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe, are professionals who perform across Nevada, California, the Mountain West, and occasionally in the mid-west, and as far as the East Coast. In alignment with their cultural beliefs, the group said they do not compete against other performers but against the drum. 

For these dancers, dancing is a family affair, as each dance tells a story of their heritage. Dancing together is a means of passing on to the next generation the history, culture, and traditions of their people. 

Also bringing a rainbow of hues to the stage was Nuestra Herencia Mexicana Dance Group, who dazzled the audience with their folkloric traditional Mexican dances. The group’s dances, steeped in tradition and culture, strive to preserve tradition while expanding with modern times. Most of the dancers are Mexican American from varying backgrounds but share a love for their Hispanic culture. Pictured right, below.

The group has performed at the Cantaloupe Festival, Winnemucca Fair, Yerington Fair, Carson City Fair, State Fair, Fiesta on Wells, Día De Los Muertos for the NV State Museum, Danzantes Unidos Festival, at the Churchill County High School, many private events, and became part of High Desert Grange in 2019.

The Lincoln Highway Band’s classic county music and Dave Noll’s acoustic guitar and original Western songs added the magic of storytelling through song to the stage. To expand on that storytelling were Stuart Richardson and Star Olsen. Richardson spiritedly performed several pieces of cowboy poetry written by local Mills poets, Newell, Margo, and Roger Mills. Each poem, rich with the essence of the high mountain desert, also featured the joys of raising livestock and Nevada’s lovely weather – all sprinkled with just the right amount of good humor. Pictured below right.

Speaking of humor, Star Olsen performed two poems by former Fallon icon and cowboy poet – or rather cowgirl poet Gorgie Sicking (1921-2016). Born in Seligman, Arizona, Sicking was supposed to be a boy. Born to a rancher, cowboy, and mustanger, she soon learned to cowboy, raise and run cattle, break horses, and eventually write cowboy poetry. Olsen deftly brought some of Sicking’s grit and wit to the stage, giving the audience their final dose of poetry for the event. Star Olsen, pic

With a packed house, a grinning audience, and many stories yet to tell, Jessica Huckabee and the Fallon Theatre promised to host the event back next year, bringing a new Western Heritage tradition to life in Fallon. 

Below left: Chip Noll, below right: Lincoln Highway Band.