Tombstone Helldorado Days

Helldorado Days is Tombstone's oldest celebration, held on Allen Street every third weekend of October since 1929. Across three days the historic silver-mining town closes its dirt main street to traffic and fills it with gunfight re-enactment shows, street entertainment, fashion shows, bouncy castles and food vendors, with the Reunion Party at the Rose Tree Inn and the World Famous Helldorado Parade on Sunday. Costumed characters - cowboys, saloon girls, gunfighters - walk the wooden sidewalks, and the celebration draws on the Old West history of Tombstone, the town famous for the events around the O.K. Corral. Admission to the street celebration is free.

Visitors enjoy the atmosphere of a whole town in period costume - amazed at how many people dress up, praising the gun shows as good acting, and describing costumed actors on the pea-gravel street as capturing the feel of the Old West. The honest caveats recur too: several reviewers find Tombstone touristy and over-commercialized, note that some individual attractions (a gunfight show, the OK Corral re-enactment, museums) charge separate admission, and treat it as a fun half-day rather than a full destination.