"Desert Dust" Photo History Presentation by R.J. "Gill" Gillilan

As part of Historic Preservation Month for the month of May, the Parco/Sinclair Historical Theatre is excited to announce that we will be hosting a presentation on the history of the iconic photograph, "Desert Dust!"

On Thursday, May 14th starting at 7pm, R.J. "Gill" Gillilan will share his 16+ years of research on this photograph that was taken by local Rawlins photographer, Verne Wood, in 1945. This is a very interesting true story that includes horse wrangler, Frank Robbins, who captured the palomino known as Desert Dust. Gill, along with author Paul W. Papa wrote the book, "Desert Dust," that delves deeply into the history of this photograph including a court case and judgement that determined ownership of this photo. As well, on this evening we will show a short film (22 min.), "Fight of the Wild Stallions," that starred this majestic palomino as himself fighting to keep his mares. This short film was runner-up for an Academy Award in 1947!

This event is FREE admission and concessions will be available. Those folks that are interested may also purchase a copy of this very interesting book and have it signed by the researcher himself, "Gill" Gillilan.  By the way, Gill is a former Carbon County resident who lived in Ft. Steele and attended school in Sinclair and eventually graduated from Rawlins High School!

For more information about this event please call Monte Thayer at (307)321-8694.