We arrived at our destination to find three ancient buildings at the intersection of Little Applegate Road and Sterling Creek Road. Once a thriving mining town that even had its own post office, its now the last surviving "ghost town" in southern Oregon. Local residents in the area have created the Buncom Historical Society to preserve the site and they have their own website at Buncom.org. Check it out.
The website is full of historical information, poems and songs written about the town and a calendar of events occuring in this not-so-thriving micropolis. OK - event. They put on an annual event called Buncom Day, which features "the world's shortest parade."
I love goofy stuff like this, so I wrote to the Buncom Hysterical - oops - Historical Society to inquire about this year's Buncom Day, scheduled for May 31st. Fortunately I was in time to get my marching band (Bob O'Luney's Amazing One-Man Band) entered in the parade. They also have a stage with an actual PA system for musicians who volunteer to perform, so I asked if I could do a set in the guise of my Bob Haworth personna.
In keeping with the wacky nature of this event I'm planning to do a couple Kingston Trio songs: "Big Ball in Buncom" and "Buncom Girls" (to the tune of "New York Girls".) And I think I might do that old Glen Campbell tune, "By The Time I Get To Buncom". A couple others on my list are "Take Me Back To Buncom" (Tulsa), "Buncom Gals" (to the tune of "Buffalo Gals") and maybe round out the set with "Buncom On My Mind".
When I was with The Brothers Four we used to do a bit in our show where we'd pick on some small town in the area where we were performing with jokes like: "The last time were in Oregon we spent three weeks in Buncom one night. And this afternoon we drove out to Buncom to watch a haircut." Yeah - I know - old jokes!
Anyway, if you're in the area on May 31st, come and join the festivities. Watch the schedule page on my website here for times.
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