Gyro Days 2009 in Historic Wallace Idaho

As always, a huge crowd is expected to watch the event that starts when the ball drops off a bridge just east of Mullan at 12:00 PM. The Wallace Gyro Club sells chances on the time it takes for the ball to make it's seven mile journey to the Sixth Street bridge in Wallace. The money raised through ticket sales and bike ride registration goes to the Gyro Scholarship Fund which awards scholarships to local high school students for college. First Prize this year is again One Hundred .999 Fine Silver Rounds. Thirteen other prizes for varying amounts of cash, from $100 (2^nd - 6^th) to $25 (12^th - 14^th), will also be awarded. Tickets are $1 each.

As usual, Gyro Days begins on the Thursday before the Saturday Derby with the arrival of a carnival in downtown Wallace! In 2009, we have a new carnival concessionaire with more rides for all ages and an expanded midway arcade.

Until recently, part of Saturday's fun, as the crowd followed the ball downstream, was the traditional, but NOT SANCTIONED, Hill Climb Daredevil Contest on the steep Morning District tailings, and the Mud Bog Races. This latter event was one of the strangest "sports" I have ever seen! Picture high powered rigs racing across a mud pit trying not to stall while making as big a mess as possible. Alcohol usually contributed to extracurricular events such as spectator mud wrestling. This spectacle was not for the faint-hearted... or forever, as it turned out.

Five years ago, two stupid people in a jeep did the Hill Climb drunk and without seat belts. When they hurt themselves, they had the gall to sue the mining company on whose land they were playing. So for the last four years the mining company has quite rightly said "No Trespassing." This has had a calming effect on the festival, which may have grown a little too crazy after six decades of celebration. Also by 1999, it seemed as if people were coming to Wallace on Gyro Days to settle scores they didn't dare settle in their hometowns. Too many visitors were having prearranged fistfights in our streets; there was too much "Wild West" action even for Wallace. So we kept the festival, but worked to change its mood.

In bygone decades, Gyro Day meant a procession of families in carriages from Mullan to Wallace, stopping at a score of places as they chased the ball downstream for three to five hours. It was a kid oriented traveling picnic! In the last year, the Rails-to-Trails project known as The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes has been completed. The paved bike path runs from Mullan to Wallace, and then continues for another 66 miles through the Silver Valley and chain lakes region, along and then over Lake Coeur d'Alene to end in Plummer. I am hopeful that this development will greatly accelerate the trend in recent years for people to follow the Gyro ball on bikes rather than in cars. The Derby is becoming kid-friendly once again.