Bishop Mule Days

It started as a small show in 1969 with a few hundred attendees and has grown to Bishop's largest event, attracting as many as 30,000 spectators.

Grand marshalls of the parade in past years have included Ronald Reagan[3] and Norman Livermore.

Activities also range from packing to dressage, and from team chariot racing to mule shoeing contests.

The event is described as a "wild and wooly spectacular" with "more than one hundred horses and mules running loose in the arena.

Each team must wrangle its own mules out of a herd in the arena, pack them correctly, and race around to the finish line as spectators whoop, cheer and jeer.

The logo of Bishop Mule Days
Bishop Mule Days logo
photo of two mule-drawn wagons in the Bishop Mule Days parade
Two mule-drawn wagons in the Bishop Mule Days parade.
photo of mule pack string in the Bishop Mule Days parade
A mule pack string in the Bishop Mule Days parade.
photo of the Bishop Mule Days
Participants in the Bishop Mule Days stand for the Star Spangled Banner, with the Sierra Nevada in the background.
photo of a mule pack string operated by the United States Forest Service and participating in the Bishop Mule Days parade.
A mule pack string operated by the United States Forest Service , carrying firefighting gear, and participating in Bishop Mule Days.
photo of packer's scramble event at Bishop Mule Days
The first pack string to reassemble and run out of the arena is the winner of the packing scramble.