Pony Express brings history to life, draws crowd to Historic Folsom

A modest-sized crowd gathered outside Folsom's History Museum on Sutter Street Wednesday evening to witness history in the "re-making." After being cancelled last year due to the pandemic, the National Pony Express is re-ride trotted into town. Wednesday night's event was part of the 10-day, 24-hour a day re-ride that travels the Historic Pony Express Trail. Historic Folsom was just one of the many stops along the trek that will involve 750 different riders this year. The ride continues all the way to St. Joseph, Missouri where it concludes on June 26. After starting in Sacramento around 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, the rider arrived in Folsom shortly before 7:00 p.m. where he was welcomed by plenty of cheers of those lining the street surrounding the historic Wells Fargo building, home to an original stop on the Pony Express Trail. The crowd attending Wednesday's event was visibly larger than those in recent years as the community enjoys the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and getting out to such events in their city. The larger than normal crowd even managed to intimidate the incoming rider's horse, as it came to an abrupt halt near the intersection of Reading Street and Sutter the moment it eyed all who were waiting for it. Incoming rider Steve Pool eventually climbed from the saddle and walked the remainder of the way to the exchange point. "Well that's never happened to us before," mused pool as he approached the spectators. After making the exchange of mail bags carrying personal mail and commemorative letter, the next rider galloped up Sutter Street and headed out to the applause of the crowd. The ride will continue to travel through California before crossing Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. "After we were shut down all of last year, it's good to being doing this again, said Pool, who has been part of the organization for 20-years now. "All of us spent the time to clear the trails and get everything ready (last year) and then everything shut down." Wednesday's event was attended by many families with young children who were all smiles as they watched the riders come in and had the opportunity to ask questions and pet their horses. It was the scene of living history being passed down through generations. "This is just awesome that they still do this every year," said Jake Ellis of Folsom, who learned of the event at folsomtelegraph.com this morning and left work early to bring his sons, Jason, 8 and Alex, 10 to the event. "Keeping history alive like this for the eyes of our kids is so important, especially in a time when it feels like we are trying to erase so much history. They can read this in books and online, but seeing it in person, it's something very special." To see a complete schedule of the re-ride and the history of the Pony Express, visit www.nationalponyexpress.org.