Dear editor,

The Green River Rendezvous Pageant Association (GRRPA) cast has always participated in the rendezvous parade and other events throughout the weekend including the pageant (beginning in 1936). Part of keeping history alive is Sunday’s pageant, which tells the story of the history of Sublette County. Holding a practice on Saturday is important so that the cast and horses can feel comfortable with the pageant narrative, tepees and grounds.
When the parade traveled west to east from near Lincoln Ave. to the Pinedale Middle School, it was easy for cast members walking or riding horses and traveling in wagons to load into vehicles and trailers parked at the middle school and continue to the rendezvous grounds behind the rodeo grounds. In the case of wagons, they would drive them from the middle school to the rendezvous grounds. After arriving at the grounds, cast members are fed a BBQ lunch before practice begins for Sunday’s pageant.

However, the Main Street Pinedale Committee reversed the route of the parade from east to west, traveling from the middle school to near Lincoln Ave. The change in direction puts all rendezvous cast members, horses and wagons at the wrong end of town and creates a dangerous situation that severely delays the lunch and practice. Once the parade is done, the amount of backed-up summer traffic and parade watchers make it dangerous and nearly impossible to get to the rendezvous grounds in a timely manner. The GRRPA has discussed these concerns with the Pinedale Town Council and the Main Street committee, to no avail. No one listened. Furthermore, no compelling reason was given for reversing the route. The lack of support from the Main Street committee and the town council is disappointing.

After two years of being in the parade following the revised route, the GRRPA board met with the Town Council and the Main Street Committee and discussed the route. During that discussion, it became clear that neither the town nor the Main Street Committee felt that the GRRPA cast was relevant as a part of the parade.

As a result of that discussion and the fact that the parade will still run in the same reversed direction, the GRRPA would like to inform the public that we regretfully will not be participating in the parade this year. The practice and the pageant are very important in order to keep Sublette County’s history alive. Without the pageant, there would not be Rendezvous Days.       

Sincerely,

Mark Eatinger, Green River Rendezvous Pageant Association president