It’s back to the ’50s and ’60s with Chuck Yeager and Moni & the Moonlighters

A Chautauqua of Chuck Yeager, a concert by Moni & the Moonlighters and a presentation on “Wood for the Comstock” by historian Wendell Huffman, will wrap up the month of August at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park.

Chautauquan Doug Mishler will perform 6:30 p.m. Aug. 23 as record-setting test pilot Chuck Yeager, who became the first to exceed the speed of sound in level flight.

Yeager was raised tough, independent, and strong-willed. Yeager was not a great student of anything but mechanics.

Yeager barely finished high school, yet this yearning and his mechanical bent compelled him to enlist in the Army Air Corps six months before Pearl Harbor. On Oct. 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager created history in just a 5-minute flight, as he blazed through the barrier at 1.07 MACH.

Since 1993, Mishler has been nationally recognized for bringing history to life. Mishler has presented figures from Nikita Khrushchev to Theodore Roosevelt, to Ernie Pyle, and P. T. Barnum. He has made more than 800 first-person presentations of 30-plus historical figures, including Stonewall Jackson, Henry Ford, Pablo Picasso, and now Dwight D. Eisenhower, Yeager, and Gene Roddenberry.

For this Chautauqua presentation, tickets may be purchased at the event and are $10 for members, $15 for non-member adults, and free for youth 16 and younger.

This season’s Chautauqua programs are all funded in part by a generous grant from Nevada Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities.

Moni & the Moonlighters will bring their 1950s-60s review to the home ranch 6:30 p.m. Aug. 24.

Guests are welcome to dress in period attire and bring their antique cars to display around the event tent site. Tickets may be purchased at the event and are $15 for members, $20 for non-member adults, and free for youth 16 and younger.

Historian Wendell Huffman will give an encore presentation of “Wood for the Comstock” 10 a.m. Aug. 26.

Huffman was curator of history at the Nevada State Railroad Museum for 16 years until his retirement. Prior to that, he was a librarian in Carson City and Norman, Okla., and before that worked as a horseshoer, cowboy, logger, and truck driver. His study of the lumbering and fuelwood industries relating to the Comstock combines his interest and experience in logging and railroads.

“We’re coming towards the end of our 2023 festival season, and with these last events in August, we’re not slowing down one bit,” said Events Manager Kim Harris. Visitors should bring their own lawn chair or other seating for all events, and only genuine service animals are allowed. Guests are welcome to bring snacks and libations, as no food or beverages will be available. Visit Dangberg.org for more information about visiting the park

Funding in support of the 2023 Dangberg Summer Festival has been provided by sponsors Douglas County, Carson Valley Health, Central Sierra Construction, Horse Tales, Kaiser Genoa Property, LLC, Terrence K. Lapan AAMS® Financial Advisor at Ameriprise, Warren Reed Insurance, Christensen Automotive of Gardnerville, D & B Cabinets, Douglas Disposal & Recycling Service, Edward Jones Investments—Tim Cleveland, Hone Company, Mark Smith Tire Center Les Schwab, Nevada State Bank, Robert E. Schilling Charitable Fund, Holiday Inn Express—Minden, and Frances C. and William P. Smallwood Foundation.