Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Harrison wagon train hits trail for 43rd year
HARRISON — The pandemic has postponed everything from the Olympics to the Kentucky Derby.
But the coronavirus couldn’t stop the Harrison wagon train.
Nine horse-drawn wagons and 49 horseback riders left Harrison on Friday morning on a five-day, 70-mile trip west toward Springdale.
“We had the blessing of the state health department,” said Vickie Grattan, treasurer and board member of the Harrison Roundup Club, which holds the annual wagon train.
Grattan said she filled out the paperwork and worked to make sure Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines were followed.
“We were lucky for them to OK it,” said Shari Ricketts, a member of the Roundup Club’s wagon train committee. “We jumped through hoops to be able to do it.”
The wagon train has been a Harrison tradition since 1977.
Normally, the wagon train leaves Harrison and arrives in Springdale just before the beginning of the Rodeo of the Ozarks’ opening-day parade, when the wagon train joins in the parade.
This year, the rodeo has been postponed until July 29 because of the pandemic.
But that didn’t derail the wagon train from its usual June departure.
“People schedule their vacations a year in advance for this trip and this time just works for everybody,” said Pam Underdown of Alpena.
Ricketts said it would be too hot for the horses to have the wagon train in late July.
If they canceled the wagon train this year, there’s a chance that might be the end of it, Underdown said.
“That’s our fear,” she said. “We didn’t want to let it go a year if we didn’t have to.”
Underdown said she remembers when the wagon train had 41 wagons and 300 horseback riders. That was several years ago.
Shorty Ozier of Harrison, who has participated in the wagon train since 1986, said he remembers when the wagon train was 2 miles long. He said the youngsters don’t seem as interested in riding the back roads and camping for days, especially where cell service is spotty.
And some old timers no longer ride.
“The Good Lord has called a lot of them, and a lot of them aren’t able to ride,” said Ozier, 90, who stopped riding on horseback a couple of years ago but still likes to see the wagon train get underway.
He led the participants in singing “God Bless America” before they departed from the Northwest Arkansas District Fairgrounds in Harrison on Friday morning.
“I wouldn’t want to miss the excitement of getting them out of town,” said Ozier, who was riding in the car with Harrison Police Chief Chris Graddy, helping escort the wagon train out of Harrison.
“I started with this wagon train when I was 10 years old,” said Graddy, 52. For 20 years, he rode a horse or in a wagon as a participant. Afterward, as a state trooper, he helped the wagon train get out of town, like he was doing on Friday.
Kenny Underdown, Pam’s husband, is the wagon master.
He said the wagon train will stop about 6 miles shy of Springdale instead of going all the way into town.
Not only has the rodeo been postponed, but Springdale has become somewhat of a hot spot for covid-19. Washington County has had more than 2,300 positive cases. Boone County, where Harrison is located, has had only 11.
The Roundup Club asked wagon train participants to sign a covid-19 waiver and release of liability.
“We’re 40, 50 feet apart, and we’re outside,” said Kenny Underdown, referring to the distance between wagons. “We’re just trying to get by the best we can.”
Zara Enloe, 24, of Wichita Falls, Texas, said she traveled for seven hours to get to Harrison to ride horseback alongside the wagon train.
“Sometimes it’s good to get away from social media,” said Enloe, formerly of Berryville. This is the 12th year she has ridden with the wagon train.
Enloe said she’s glad they didn’t cancel it this year.
“It would have disappointed me,” she said, “but I don’t think I’d be mad. I’d understand. There’s not a lot of young people who want to commit to something like this. It’s a lot of work. I do this as sort of a get-together with family.”
J.C. Grunwald, 11, of Berryville has been riding with the wagon train since he was 6 years old — the entire way.
He’s not worried about a dearth of cell service along the way.
“I have my friends here,” he said. “It’s like a long camping trip.”
His mother, Amanda Wambold, said he’ll get to practice his roping at the campsites and play games with other kids.
“It’s just fun,” she said. “They have a good time.”
Grunwald’s white horse Lester was wearing a white mesh baseball cap. It’s somewhat of a tradition. Some years, Lester wears a cowboy hat.
John Henry Shaddox started the event after participating in a wagon train in 1976 to mark the United States bicentennial.
Harrison’s wagon train was called the John Henry Shaddox Wagon Train for 40 years. Shaddox died in 1991, and in 2018, with the Shaddox family no longer participating, the name was changed to the Harrison Roundup Club Annual Wagon Train.
The wagon train stopped at a park in Carrollton to camp the first night. The other campsites are on private property, according to the schedule.
“We’re 40, 50 feet apart, and we’re outside. We’re just trying to get by the best we can.” — Kenny Underdown