El Dorado Gold 2016 in Placerville, CA Sept. 11-18 opened with a bang!

They appeared in costumes, with banners, flags, horse teams and carriages.  Nations from A to Z by the hundreds came in for the panning competition (tomorrow’s blog).

The law and the lawless appeared, as did many of Placerville’s costumed (or not) characters.  There were “ladies of the night”, hundreds of gold panning competitors from every nation you could name.  John Sanders and daughter (Old Town Grill and  Smith Flat House Restaurant) and the Fausel family (Placerville Hardware) all joined in to prepare and serve up John’s version of “Miner’s Stew”, a delicious recipe including wild turkey, rabbit, local heirloom tomatoes and vegetables.

See the 63-pg. booklet of the entire gold event on http://www.eldorado2016.com

              Michal, Native Daughter of the Golden West.

South African delegates loved the stew!