This group will supply a narration on the parade and the celebration as the parade moves down Main street in Deadwood. Miss Yellow Doll will be riding in a Rickshaw during the parade while all of the martial arts performers will also parade down Main Street. That portion of the city contained within the city limits, as they existed in 1981, is a nationally significant historic site. Deadwood is significant because of its unique history involving fabled western characters such as Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Preacher Smith and Seth Bullock among others. Deadwood also represents the western mining town and has retained much of its early character.
Deadwood tells the story of how western boomtowns grew and thrived and then started to decline.
From 1876 to at least 1950 Deadwood was the center of banking, retail trade, culture and entertainment in the Northern Black Hills. The demise of the railroad and the development of interstate highways were factors in the gradual decline in the economic importance of Deadwood. Even so, the city was designated as a National Landmark in 1961, five years before the National Historic Preservation Act was passed. The original designation did not define any boundaries for the historic district. It was not until 1981 that the boundaries for the historic district were established as the city limits.