The Old West Festival Straight Shoots to Cincy

The Old West Festival returned to Greater Cincinnati this year.

In the hey-day of the Wild West, cowboys would spend a month’s wages on entertainment. Lucky for you, you don’t have to, even if you want some authentic Wild West entertainment.

The annual Old West Festival returns to Greater Cincinnati, this year featuring one of the Old West’s favorite forms of entertainment: dancing girls! New this year, saloon patrons can enjoy Miss Melody Star and her Hurdy Gurdy Girls performing to some of the most popular songs of the 1870s.

Miss Melody Star and her Hurdy Gurdy Girls are co-directed by Wendy Wilson and Bill Gay and runs daily on Saturdays and Sundays during the Old West Festival weekends at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 4:30 p.m.. In her fifth season with the Old West Festival, Wendy Wilson is also responsible for the show’s choreography.

“We are very excited to bring a whole new show to the Long Branch Saloon this year,” says Wilson. “New cast, new music, new energy, and a whole lot of fun for audiences of all ages”

The Old West Festival is taking place Saturdays and Sundays, which started Sept. 7 and will be running until Oct. 6 from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Miss Melody Star and her Hurdy Gurdy Girls are co-directed by Wilson and Bill Gay and they present during the Festival at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 4:30 p.m.

“We work hard to ensure that our show at the Old West Festival is as historically accurate as possible,” says Wilson. “Everything the audience sees from the choreography, to the costuming to the music, it all predates 1878. We are one of very few places in the country that is both entertaining and historically educational.”

Wilson is a classically trained dancer and has danced all her life. She discovered CanCan through a friend who was dancing with a CanCan Troupe and has been dancing and choreographing Victorian dance routines ever since. “CanCan dancing is girl power at its finest,” says Wilson. Historically, the dance was very empowering for women.

“This is where women really started to come into their own on the social scene and start to break some rules. It was their way of having fun and at the same time showing they can get out there and kick their heels up and show their bloomers off. CanCan is really where you could say that girl power got it start,” says Wilson.

The Festival is located at 1449 Greenbush Cobb Road, Ohio. The festival cost $12 general admission; $6 for children ages 6 to 12; and children under five are free, and parking is free.

For more information, visit www.oldwestfestival.com or stay up-to-date with them on Facebook and Twitter.