Marysville Gold Rush event highlights first Saturday in downtown

May 6—Many different artists and "personalities" came together at Skips Marysville Music Cafe on a rainy Saturday in downtown Marysville to promote a California Gold Rush-themed event that featured a variety of authors, artists and musicians entertaining while enlightening the public on the city's rich history.

Andre LaBouyer, a local resident and published author, was the brainchild behind the first Saturday event. He was present in part to promote his new book titled, "The Shadows at Cortez Square," a literary fiction novel set in 1858 Marysville.

LaBouyer, one of many writers at the event, was joined by Yuba-Sutter artists, most notably his son, John LaBouyer, who has created numerous artworks of historical events set in the Yuba-Sutter region. One of note that could be displayed soon at the Candy Box in downtown Marysville is of former President William Howard Taft on a visit to Marysville in the early 1900s during his presidency. Taft, according to both Andre and John LaBouyer, made a stop at a train station in Marysville to give a speech.

John LaBouyer hopes one day to expand his art collection outside of Yuba-Sutter. His work includes many historical faces, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"I'm proud to be a part of this event and to be a local artist," LaBouyer said.

Ruth Soto, another local artist, created several Gold Rush-themed pieces for the first Saturday event that were displayed inside the business of Skip Bertsch.

"We had a huge turnout today with amazing personalities," Andre LaBouyer said.

LaBouyer hopes to make the Marysville Gold Rush event an annual gathering to help increase foot traffic and excitement in the downtown area.

Marysville historian Sue Cejner-Moyers, a central figure to the gathering of facts from the Gold Rush period, was dressed as one of her many historical characters that she rotates throughout the year. For the Gold Rush event, Cejner-Moyers was Charley Darkey Parkhurst, an American stagecoach driver, farmer and rancher in California.

Cejner-Moyers said one of Parkhurst's claim to fame was that after death it was revealed that she was indeed a woman and so she became the first woman voter in California in a presidential election.

Cejner-Moyers is known to alter her voice and makeup multiple times throughout the year during Marysville events. Up next could be an impersonation of Nancy Seeley, who is buried on the veterans' plot at the Historic Marysville City Cemetery off State Highway 70 just outside the city limits.

While planning for the annual Tales of the Crypt event in October remains in the works, Cejner-Moyers hopes to come out as Seeley on the second Saturday in October.

"I'm hoping to tell her secret," Cejner-Moyers said.