Buckskinners, Ghost Garrison, the Hole in the Sock Gang and all sorts of volunteers in the buildings in period costuming show how things were done once upon a time in a town on the frontier.

This year, the people who were here before all that, the Native Americans who once roamed the prairies in search of game, were represented too.

Kevin Browning owns War Pony Productions.

He also has another name: Pui Tomobi, which means, in Comanche, Eyes Like Sky.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Chris Tiernan, of Fort Dodge, demonstrates how to fill capsules in the old drug store at the Fort Museum & Frontier Village during the Frontier Days Celebration Saturday.

On Saturday, he was dressed like he just stepped out of a time machine: native dress, with a white man’s top hat, much as one would expect to see in 1870.

His face was painted.

“Each warrior had his own face,” Browning said. “Each color and design has a meaning. I had a dream where I saw this face. I took it as my own.”

The colors each have their own significance.

“Black is for battle in death. Red is for the bloodshed of battle, both your own and your enemy’s,” he said. “White is the beginning of new life, and the bloody tear drops are for my ancestors that died in battle, not just fighting, but others, like cancer.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Landon Lundberg, 14, at left, wonders what his next move might be as his brother Connor Nelson, 8, contemplates his during a checkers game in the general store at the Fort Museum and Frontier Village Saturday afternoon during Frontier Days. Their mom, Linette Nelson, right, looks on.

The snake design represents the Comanche.

“We always traveled in a curve,” he said.

There are several dots too.

“Those are for my kids and grandkids.”

There’s some paint on his arm too; he’s pretty lighthearted about that design.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
John Bonner, of Vincent, who has a bee in his bonnet and a song on his lips, plays the harmonica Saturday during Frontier Days and Fort Museum and Frontier Village. Bonner’s character is a frontier era doctor.

“This covers up a tattoo,” he said, breaking into a big grin.

Browning got his start working in native attire at the Fort Worth stockyards. His profits were reinvested in costuming. He went on the road about nine years ago. He also does a rodeo show.

He’s proud of the collection of costumes. Guests can put them on and he will pose with them for a photo.

“I try to make you look like you walked out of the 1870s like a character in a Lonesome Dove movie,” he said.

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-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Sandra Bonner, of Vincent, demonstrates an old style of cursive writing.

No frontier town could survive long without a skilled blacksmith.

Archie Mackay, of Fort Dodge, and his “apprentice” Jared Foster, of Callender, were demonstrating those skills, or lack of them, in the blacksmith shop.

“I’m not doing too good of a job,” Foster said.

Foster is just starting out; he’s working his way up as he gains experience.

“I’m not allowed to use the big hammer,” he said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Blacksmith Archie Mackay, left, and apprentice Jared Foster, of Callender, work on projects in the blacksmith shop.

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Linette Nelson, of Fort Dodge, came to Frontier Days with her family. The event organizers have been working to make the event much more family-friendly.

“There’s more live displays,” she said. “Less adult entertainment. We really enjoy coming out.”

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The medical arts in the frontier era were a bit on the primitive side.

John Bonner, of Vincent, portrays Dr. John Bonner, a physician of the time.

Many of Bonner’s vintage instruments look quite terrifying.

Some, such as his suppository mold, attract at lot of attention.

“Someone asked me why the doctor had a bullet mold,” he said. “It’s pretty popular.”

Chris Tiernan, of Fort Dodge, fit right into her role as a late 1800s-era pharmacist in the drug store.

She’s a pharmacist in 2019 too.

“This was back when they made all their own medicine,” she said. “They would dry it out, crush it in a mortar and pestle then they would have to fill the capsules.”

She was letting visitors do just that. — with an old remedy for an upset stomach: baking soda.

“They would have told you they’re giving you sodium bicarbonate to treat you,” she said. “In the late 1800s it was better than nothing.”

She firmly warned the capsule fillers not to actually eat them.

“Take your capsule home, throw it in some vinegar and make bubbles,” she said.

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Frontier Days continues today. Gates open at 9 a.m. and events continue until 3 p.m. Admission is $5 at the gates.

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