If you live in or around Winterset, Iowa you are likely hunkering down for an onslaught of visitors this weekend. Most are making the trip to honor a man residents in Winterset knew as Marion Morrison—the rest of the world knew him simply as the Duke.
That’s right; American icon John Wayne called Winterset home and this year the community is going all out to celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday. According to event organizers, thousands (some from as far away as Norway and Denmark) are expected to pour into town for the festivities (many make the trip specifically to see the tiny white clapboard house where the Hollywood legend was born on May 26, 1907).
Townspeople say the party will be befitting of the celebrity cowboy’s larger-than-life persona. The planned events include free showings of various Wayne classics including “True Grit,” for which Wayne won an Academy Award in 1969, and “Stagecoach,” the 1939 western many say made Wayne a major movie star.
There will also be a groundbreaking for the John Wayne Birthplace Museum and Learning Center along with appearances by at least three of Wayne’s former co-stars: Dean Smith, Edward Faulkner and Gregg Palmer.
While community members honor Wayne in Iowa, a few states to the south, plans to honor another big name celebrity have been cancelled. Simply put—-if you are planning a trip to Lubbock, Texas don’t plan on strolling down the Buddy Holly Walk of Fame. The West Texas city may be the entertainer’s birthplace, but the City Council has decided against honoring Holly with a street.
As some of you may have already figured the decision to rescind the 1995 resolution that created the name boiled down to money. According to news reports, a nonprofit group created by the city in 1956, faced a dispute with Holly’s widow, Maria Elena Holly, over payment for the use of the rocker’s name at the Walk of Fame and Buddy Holly Terrace.
Council members told reporters that Holly’s widow had been seeking a licensing agreement and name usage fees for the two sites, which could have cost the city as much as $10,000 a year.
“We couldn’t see putting that kind of money out to use his name,” one council member told reporters.
The end result: The Walk of Fame and Buddy Holly Terrace will now be known as the West Texas Hall of Fame and West Texas Terrace.
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