by The Maury County Bridle and Saddle Club was formed in the late 1960’s, held club shows during the summer months for its members. The “club” was charted as a non-profit organization in 1973. Looking for a way to “raise” money to “give back” to the community, someone came up with the idea, to bring Mule Day back, after an absence of 24 year. This took place in 1974 and consisted of a Queens contest Mule show on Friday; the Saturday activities were the Parade, Mule Pulling, and Square Dance.
Those Club Members in 1973, did not realize and never “dreamed”, the Mule Day they started “back”, would grow into the “hugh event”, it has become today. Mule Day is now a week long event, with in excess of 100,000 people in attendance. Many of these people are in town all week, the financial impact for Columbia and Maury County is estimated to be in excess of 10 million dollars.
The Maury County Bridle and Saddle Club has about hundred members, and is one of the most active clubs in the state. The Mule Day Committee is made up 40 members, which consist of Directors, Assistant Directors for each function of Mule Day.
There are many other people outside of our club, that help and are very important to the success of Mule Day, The City Of Columbia, Maury County Government, Maury County Visitors Bureau, Maury Alliance, The Kiwanis Club, The Lighthouse Church, Maury Regional Medical Center, and Maury County Parks and Recreation in helping preparing the Park for all of our activities there.
In closing, our club would like “thank” everyone, that advertised in our program, for these funds are used for printing the program; as we will have 32,000 copies printed in order to get the message out about our great event.
– by Dave Skillington
