EVENTS
Where Are We Going?
September 19-20, 2025
Santa Fe Trail Association Symposium: (Council Grove, Kansas)
In commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the 1825 Sibley Survey of the Santa Fe Trail, The Heart of the Flint Hills Chapter of the Santa Fe Trail Association is hosting the 2025 Santa Fe Trail Symposium in Council Grove, Kansas. This year’s theme is, “Marking a Road to Santa Fe: Set Your Sights on Sibley” The NSFWA will be involved with the event from September 19-20 with a wagon show. The Santa Fe Trail Association will be conducting other events during this time. Stay tuned for more information.
[200th Commemoration Wagon Show on the Santa Fe Trail - Council Grove, KS
Antique Wagon Registration Form.pdf
Where Have We Been?
2025
July 9-12, 2025
2025 Annual Conference: (Scottsbluff and Gering, Nebraska)
The NSFWA 2025 Conference was held in Scottsbluff and Gering, Nebraska. The conference’s top feature was a start-to-finish demonstration of haying with horses and mules. It also included learning from speakers and each other about horse-drawn wagons, coaches, service wagons, the importance of buggies and surreys, firefighting equipment, army wagons, and chuckwagons. We explored the Legacy of the Plains Museum and made short trips to see Fort Robinson, Fort Laramie, and the Scottsbluff Monument. There were lots of other attractions such as the Oregon Trail Ruts Site, Register Cliff, etc.
May 30-31, 2025
2nd Annual Spring River Pioneer Days:
(Verona, Missouri)
The 2nd Annual Spring River Pioneer Days featured a pioneer village, mountain man encampment, western reenacting, stagecoach rides, chuckwagons, and more!
April 26-27, 2025
Farm Team Competition: (Lyndon, Kansas)
The Lyndon Saddle Club held its Fourth Annual Farm Team Competition in Lyndon, Kansas.
Farm teams from different parts of the country had fun and competed in log skidding, cultivating, and driving challenges.
2024
June 20-23, 2024 - NSFWA Annual Conference 
THE NATIONAL STAGECOACH AND FREIGHT WAGON ASSOCIATION hosted their Annual Conference in Virginia City, Mt. This Event was the primary fundraising event for the NSFWA, A 501(C)3, Organization.
The event included speakers, displays, a special tour pf Nevada City, social hour(s), Board Meetings and more! Read more.
June 15-16, 2024 - Lyndon Farm Team Competition
at Lyndon, KS.
April 11-13, 2024 - NSFWA Fun Days, Middlebrook, VA
2022
June 10th & 11th, 2022 Spring Fun Days event was held us Dillon and Bannack.
We enjoyed:
· Exploring the abandoned gold town of Bannack,
· Driving the stage and freight road from Dillon to Bannack
· A barbeque dinner with plenty of time to visit
· Learned about the history of The Montana Trail and stories of the surrounding area
· Guided tours of Virginia City and Nevada City, MT
Read more.
2021
Santa Fe Trails Association
2022 marks the 200th anniversary of the Sante Fe Trail. NSFWA attends and supports Santa Fe Trails Association celebration events throughout the year.
September 17-18, 2021: Rendezvous at Council Grove including the “Voices of the Wind People Pageant,” Mountain Men Exposition, Antique Wagon Show (with prizes), Blacksmith, Wheelwright, Non-motorized Parade, and participation of the Kaw Tribe.
September 22-26, 2021: Official 200th Commemoration Activity:
SFTA Symposium hosted by the Bent’s Fort Chapter and the Bent’s Fort National Historic Site. Events were held in La Junta, CO & at Bent’s Old Fort NHS and included speakers, tours, and living history.
April 23-25, 2021 FUN DAYS
Patrick Goodknight hosted a Fun Day in Oronogo, MO. Folks had an opportunity to talk about Patrick’s wagon collection as well as others.
Randall Miller gave a blacksmith demonstration. The group also had a private tour at a local museum.
All were welcome to drive wagons to church and see a stagecoach stop and wagon road in the area.
2019
May 8-11, 2019
NSFWA Conference –Tremonton/Promontory Summit, UT
“The Driving of the Golden Spike” event celebrates one of the most iconic and life-altering events in America's history. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in Utah on May 10, 1869. Through a series of activities, events and reenactments, the Spike 150 initiative aims to inspire, educate, and reflect on the Transcontinental Railroad legacy which proves that great things are possible with vision, hard-work, dedication, innovation, and collaboration.
April 26-27, 2019
"A Texas Gathering for NSFWA" (Fun Daze) - Wortham, TX
2018
Sept.7-9, 2018 Fun Daze - Polson/Dayton, MT (more information)
NSFWA's "FUN DAZE" was held at the Jim & Donna Pomajevich ranch at Proctor, MT September 7-9, 2018.
Photo Gallery
June 15, 2018 National Stagecoach & Freight Wagon Association members and friends participated in a huge “Preserving the West” Parade in Dillon, MT. This event was organized by The Montana Stock Growers Association and the Parade consisted of horse/mule entries, ridden and driven. NSFWA Vice President Rawhide Johnson worked with the MSGA to make this event a success.
March 15-18, 2018
NSFWA 11th Annual Conference was held in Tucson/Tubac, AZ
2017
September 27-30, 2017
Our 2017 Conference “The Santa Fe Trail: America’s First Highway of International Commerce” was held in Olathe, KS in cooperation with the Santa Fe Trail Association September 27-30, 2017.
July 21-23, 2017
Ash Hollow, NE held a 150-year governor’s signature celebration “Convergence On Sacred Grounds” with many interesting events.
Visit Garden County
August 19-20, 2017
Summers in Nevada City, MT include living history weekends. On the weekend of August 19-20, 2017, the theme was “The Ways West” and included many coaching and freighting subjects. Check the website for additional information about these educational weekends as well as lodging and accommodation information in this area.
Montana Heritage Commission
Nevada City Living History
The Ways West Schedule flyer - event details
2016
July 13—16, 2016 ~ NSFWA 9th Annual Conference in Sheridan, WY
The NSFWA and Sheridan WYO Rodeo worked together to offer many planned events: There were displays of stagecoaches, Conestoga wagons, specialty wooden-wheeled vehicles, cavalry cannons, chuck wagons, and freight wagons. The Sheridan WYO Rodeo organized a 10 to 20-mule team, pulling heavy freight wagons loaded with wool. We listened to professional guest speakers share the history of the Bozeman Trail days of long ago.
We offered free rodeo tickets to a spectacular PRCA rodeo, plus an elegant free barbeque (-BQ) for all members. We also enjoyed a historic parade down the Old Sheridan Main Street: one of the largest horse and horse-drawn vehicle parades in Wyoming. Sheridan is the epicenter of the end of the Indian wars and is located very close to Emigrant Trails, Fort Phil Kearney State Historic Site and Custer Battlefield Museum. Sheridan hosts the Don King Museum and the Brinton Museum.
2015
July 10th & 11th ~ Deadwood Stagecoach Days and History Symposium Deadwood, SD
June 18th - 21st, 2015 Yellowstone Stagecoach 100th Anniversary Reunion West Yellowstone, MT
Members of the National Stagecoach and Freight Wagon Association displayed 17 original Yellowstone Coaches and Mountain Wagons on the lawn of West Yellowstone Museum during their 8th Annual Conference on Saturday, June 20, 2015.
“Each of these horse-drawn vehicles has a history that can be traced back through years of use transporting “tourists” within Yellowstone Park. This is likely the most Yellowstone Coaches ever to be in one location in nearly a century,” said Ashlee Ganoung of the NSFWA.
This historic event, “1915: The Twilight of Stagecoaches in Yellowstone”, commemorated the hundredth anniversary of the last year that coaches were used in Yellowstone National Park. In 1916, motorized transportation replaced the Yellowstone Coaches.
The occasion offered horse-drawn vehicle enthusiasts an opportunity to investigate, photograph and compare side-by-side examples of original and restored Yellowstone Coaches some valued at over $75,000.
Historical presentations made during the event describing the use of these rare vehicles and the history of their operation in transporting early visitors to see the wonders of Yellowstone Park.
The event was well attended with nearly 100 NSFWA members taking part along with members of the public who enjoyed the Yellowstone Coach display.
June 19th-21st, 2015 ~ 8th Annual NSFWA Conference & Fundraiser
“1915: The Twilight of Stagecoaches in Yellowstone” in West Yellowstone, MT
Details
2014
July 25-26, 2014 ~ Annual Conference in Ogden, UT
Our annual meeting and conference was held in Ogden, Utah. Activities included several regionally focused historical presentations, a tour of Eli Anderson's 200+ vehicle collection, a tour of Union Station, and a group membership forum.
A special thanks to Eli Anderson (Founder of Wagonland Adventure) for the hospitality, tours and sharing of his diverse vehicle collection at a wonderful event held at his facility in Tremonton, Utah, July 26, 2014.
Labor Day Weekend, 2014 ~ History Symposium in Deadwood, SD
At the invitation of the City of Deadwood, South Dakota, our organization participated in an event focused on promoting Deadwood's horse-drawn vehicle collection at the Days of '76 museum and rodeo grounds. Opportunities for NSFWA participation in this event included an historic photo presentation depicting the importance of horse-drawn vehicles in and around Deadwood, an interpretive demonstration of stagecoaches and freight wagons, an invitational wagon show on Main Street, a walking tour of museum vehicles, stagecoach and wagon demonstrations, chuckwagon cook-off, wagon show and dust off, talks by noted historians and wagon experts, old-fashioned games, living history presentations, entertainment by cowboy musician Paul Larson, and blacksmith, saddle maker, chuck wagon cooking demonstrations and more! The Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission, Deadwood History, Inc., and the National Stagecoach and Freight Wagon Association thank you for attending Deadwood Stagecoach Days: 1876-1890.
2013
July 10-14, 2013 The 2013 NSFWA Annual Conference was held in Virginia City, MT July 10-14, 2013. We had a number of very interesting speakers provide historical presentations on the early mining, stagecoaching, and freighting history of the region. In addition, we were able to tour the historic towns of Virginia City and Nevada City. Those tours included open access to a wide variety of historic buildings and allowed for detailed examination of numerous horse-drawn vehicles. We were also able to tour one of the historic stage routes and an original stage stop as well as an original mining mill in Alder Gulch.
2012
NSFWA started off 2012 by gathering in Cheyenne, WY for our Annual Director’s Meeting. The Cheyenne Frontier Days Museum was gracious enough to allow us to host a mixer party in their Art Gallery and we had a wonderful turnout of about 50 guests, representing several organizations. Saturday was largely devoted to our Director’s meeting, with an exciting field trip out to tour CFD’s Carriage and Wagon Collection!
May, 2012 found our group in La Junta, CO at Bent’s Old Fort. In conjunction with their wonderful event, we held our 5th Annual Conference. Gerry Groenewold, Rawhide Johnson, Doug Hansen and Greg VanCoevern were all attendees at Bent’s Fort. Not only did some of our director’s bring their own vehicles, but some were speakers and presenters as well. It was an energetic gathering of trail authorities, re-enactors, wagon buffs and history enthusiasts – all meshed into one great big group of Bent’s Old Fort supporters!
June, 2012 NSFWA member, Ray Stokes, generously volunteered to attend and represent the NSFWA at Virginia Dale’s 150th Celebration held in June, 2012 in Virginia Dale, CO. As you will note in the below letter, Ray had nothing but exciting endorsements for this grand event in this little, off-the-beaten-path community.
Old West and Trail History by Ray Stokes
Virginia Dale Church Services and Summer Kid's Program
In June, two of our Director’s attended Brian Lebel’s Old West Show and Auction in Denver, CO. Both Rawhide Johnson and Ashlee Ganoung were on hand at the vendor show, with a table to help promote the NSFWA.
The Oregon California Trail Association (OCTA) held their annual conference in Lawrence, KS in August, 2012. Director Greg VanCoevern cordially promoted our Association to the trail enthusiasts that flocked to the OCTA convention.
In August, 2012 long-time member Jem Blueher hosted a small “membership drive” at his shop in Livingston, MT. It was a potluck affair with tasty treats, cold drinks, history lessons and the most heart-felt camaraderie that we feel privileged to call part of our young association.
Meeteetsee’s 100 Year’s Celebration held over the Labor Day Weekend in Meeteetsee, WY. Director Jeff McManus was vital to this event, not only by promoting stagecoaches and freight wagons – but by driving one of them in the local parade!
NSFWA Conference Reports
Sheridan, Wyoming (2016 Annual Conference)
West Yellowstone, Montana (2015 Annual Conference)
Ogden, Utah (2014 Annual Conference)
Virginia City, Montana (2013 Annual Conference)
Bent's Old Fort (2012 Annual Conference)
Santa Ynez Historic Museum (2011 Annual Conference)
Buffalo Bill Historic Center (2010 Annual Conference)
Santa Ynez Historic Museum (2009 Annual Conference)
Yellowstone Historic Center (2008 Annual Conference)
