Reservations for ‘Evening in the Past’ presentation open through May 13

Reservations are open at the Finney County Historical Museum through May 13 for the annual “Evening in the Past” presentation, where those attending can meet a hero of the Old West who earned a Medal of Honor for saving the lives of fellow frontier soldiers in southwest Kansas.

The gathering is set for 6 p.m. May 16, featuring living history reenactor Troy Krehbiel of Holcomb, who will portray Corporal Leander Herron of the Third U.S. Infantry Regiment.

Herron, a young Civil War veteran from Pennsylvania, was credited with saving a detachment of four soldiers from an attack by Kiowa warriors along the Santa Fe Trail in September of 1868, as he and another soldier returned after delivering mail from Fort Dodge to Fort Larned.

Herron received his medal 51 years later in 1919 for helping hold off the Native American attackers, who numbered approximately 50.  From the podium, the presenter will recount the story in character.

Krehbiel, a history enthusiast, researcher and reenactor, has provided previous programs for the museum on the American West and Civil War, including appearances as a Union soldier and as early-day Garden City settler, Dr. Andrew Sabine.  He has also given lectures on Kansas history, the lives of 19th Century soldiers, Confederate Civil War prisoners who enlisted with the Union, and Bent’s Fort.

In addition, he has portrayed historical characters at the Bent’s Fort National Historic Site, located 148 miles west of Garden City near Las Animas, Colo.; the Fort Larned National Historic Site, 96 miles east of Garden City in Pawnee County, as well as additional locations.      

RESERVATIONS & SPONSORS

Admission will be by reservation only, due to limited seating, at $25 per person for dinner and the program, payable by cash or check.  The number to call is 620-272-3664.  Reservations may also be made in person 1-5 p.m. daily at the museum, 403 S. Fourth Street in Garden City’s Finnup Park.  Reservations will close when all seats are taken.

The event is sponsored by Golden Plains Credit Union, Edward Jones Financial Advisor Preston Johnson, Security State Bank and a grant from the Western Kansas Community Foundation.

Each year’s Evening in the Past program includes an old-fashioned fried chicken picnic dinner on the museum’s outdoor patio, weather permitting, followed by the historical reenactment.  The event will move into the adjacent Mary Regan Conference Room if weather turns inclement.

The reenactment program has taken place annually since 2015.  Guest presenters in previous years have portrayed women of the Old West, author Mark Twain, Civil War soldier Gilbert R. Tate, a Dodge City brothel madam, a settler from the Kansas town of Santa Fe, gunfighter Doc Holliday, African-American cowboys, Garden City co-founder C.J. “Buffalo” Jones and others.