Gold Rush Days: Old Sactown's Historical Bash

The Labor Day Weekend celebration returns with costumed actors, special tours, and a lively look back at the area's glittery history.

THAT SUDDEN SHIMMER: We may never have the experience of gazing down at a metal pan brimming with river water and rocks, only to see something at the bottom suddenly shimmer, but we can experience the liveliness of the Gold Rush by venturing to Old Sacramento. The district is rife with the vintage buildings, rollicking tales, and important artifacts of the mid-1800s all year long, but, come Labor Day, the Gold Rush vibe really gets going. That's because the first Monday in September, and the weekend that precedes it, traditionally is the time for Gold Rush Days along the storied stretch of picturesque blocks, and 2017 will hold to that. The dates are...

SEPT. 1 THROUGH 4, so give a rousing "yee haw" that, with four days of fun, you'll be able to fit in all you'd like to see and participate in, if that's your bag. There are wagon rides, train rides, and river cruises to take, and Tent City to visit (yep, you'll see up-close how everyday life was lived among miners panning along the waterways of the Sierra foothills). "Old West theatrics and family-friendly melodramas" are once again on the schedule, as are live performances of yarns and ditties that'll hearken back to another century. Some of the doings during Gold Rush Days take a light-hearted approach, while other goings-on cleave to a more authentic, history-as-it-was look-back. And, indeed, it's a weekend that is open to both adults and kids (who just may be at that point in their schooling where the Gold Rush is on the lesson plan). 

IS 2017 THE YEAR... you ten-gallon up and stride into Old Sacramento, the better to dig deeper into the Gold Rush via a host of performances and re-enactments? No hat is required, but an interest in what happened nearly 17 decades ago, and how it forever altered not just our capital city and California but the world, is a great thing to pack in your suitcase.

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