Watford City Kicks Off Centennial Celebration

Watford City, located in the heart of the Bakken, is getting ready to kick off their Centennial Celebration and there certainly won't be a shortage of things to do. The once small town is going all out to celebrate 100 years.

Photo Credit: Tim Evanson@Flickr

Whether you're looking for entertainment, food, art, kids activities, sports or are looking for events that celebrate the history of the area, you will find it in Watford City. The events kick off on Thursday, June 26 with Main Street Days including Walking Tours of Main Street Then and Now and concludes Sunday morning with a non-denominational worship service at the McKenzie County Fairgrounds with plenty going on in between.

The schedule is jam packed for the Watford City Centennial and both locals and those visiting from other cities and states will not be disappointed with such a variety of things to do. Highlights of the Centennial Celebration include:

• A film festival at Six Shooters Showhall featuring the debut of "Cowboys & Crude" and "6 Brothers" followed by a Q&A session with the filmmakers. Both movies were produced by former residents of Watford City. 
• Centennial Quilt Show and Threshing Demonstrations
• Art in the Park
• "The Way it Was" Watford City History through Music theater production
• Native American Dancers
• Alumni Baseball Game and Mud Volleyball
• All School Reunion
• Group photo opp with Watford City High School football players, cheerleaders and stataticians with Coach Fred Fridley in honor of his retirement
•  Baby pageants
• Free lunches and dinners
• Entertainment by various artists including Medora Burning Hill's Cloggers, Jesse Veeder, Six Appeal, 32 Below, Tigerlily, Whiskey Rebellion and Gospel music with Merrill Piepkorn & the Radio Stars

Gatherers at the Watford City Centennial will be remembering the pre-oil boom days of no traffic - image source

Watford City was founded by Dr. Vaughn G. Morris. The name of the town was originally just Watford, named after his hometown in the province of Ontario, Canada. "City" was later added to avoid confusion with Wolford, another town in North Dakota. In 1940, Watford City became the county seat of McKenzie County, the largest county in North Dakota. Watford City beat out Alexander and Arnegard during the campaign for the county seat "without a shot fired." In 2010 the town's population was 1,744 but has a current estimated population of 5,000.

Watford City has certainly seen a lot of changes during their 100 years, and many of those changes have taken place in just the last five. It will be interesting to see how history continues to shape the once sleepy little town as it moves to a near bustling city status.

For now, we at Bakken Green would just like to say Happy 100 years Watford City! Don't forget you can order your Bakken Green t-shirts, bumper stickers, coffee mugs and more at TCs Bakken Products!