White residents will no longer paint themselves red and role play as Native Americans attacking Mormon settlers during rural Wellsville’s annual “Founders’ Day” festivities, under an informal agreement by a committee tasked with revising the controversial and deeply held tradition.
“We felt that was the best direction to go at this time,” Mayor Thomas Bailey said Thursday.
The small focus group studying the issue decided Monday night that after more than 80 years of enactments, the so-called “Sham Battle” will continue on in a new form. What that will look like — possibly more generic bandits or maybe federal troops attacking on horseback — is still yet to be decided.