For the 31st year, Oakdale Cowboy Museum showed up to treat the community to its Annual Cowboy Christmas event this past weekend.

Doors of the Gene Bianchi Community Center in Oakdale first opened Friday evening, Nov. 28 for shoppers, with the main event being hosted on Saturday, Nov. 29.

“We had a great turnout,” Bambi Porter, Oakdale Cowboy Museum Manager, stated.

With the weather being on their side, close to 60 vendors brought their hand crafted and unique Western wares to share with shoppers.

“We really appreciate all the vendors that come,” Porter said. “We jury them. We try hard to make sure it’s a good mix. We try hard to make sure to bring vendors that our event goers are going to like.”

Of the vendors which were lined up inside the Community Center and outside in the adjacent Oakdale Town Plaza, it was Cowboy Santa that continued to be the highlight of the day. The jolly ol’ (western) soul had a total of 200 visitors throughout his time Saturday at Cowboy Christmas.

“There were a lot of, not just little kids getting their photo, but it was a family photo,” Porter noted of all family members joining for a group photo. “It was really great, I love that. It’s just kind of heartwarming when you know that these people have come for years and have this collection of photos of their kids at Cowboy Christmas. We just love to be a part of that.”

In summary of the 2025 event, Porter made note of gratitude by the Board of Directors for the community’s continued support of the event year after year.

“We do it for our community,” she said of the annual event. “We don’t charge people to come in. We’re just so grateful for the support of our community.”