Celebrating the history of Columbia’s Mule Day

COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WKRN) — Columbia’s annual Mule Day started in 1840 as “Breeder’s Day,” according to the festival’s website. Today, the landmark festival draws more than 200,000 to the city each year.

Festivities, which include mule pulling contests and parades, date back to Mule Day’s original purpose: mule trading.

“It was the biggest mule sale in the country in the late 1800s,” Maury County Bridle & Saddle Club Mule Day committee member, Harvey Spann, said.

Spann and Louise Mills, one of Mule Day’s organizers, are part of a special committee that helps keep the iconic event alive.

“[It’s] kind of gotten to be a routine no,” Mills said. “We don’t really open our office until January and then we work hard through March.”

Thousands of people enjoy the event each year and cherish the tradition started by mule trading.“Celebration started one day from the big sale, but trading started a month before that day,” Spann explained.

Pictures of Mule Day throughout the years take you back in time. Images from the Tennessee State Library & Archives date back to as early as 1939.After three decades of Mule Days, the Maury County Bridle & Saddle Club took the reins and called it their renaissance year. There work has helped to inspire the next generation of people in Maury County.

“It’s a lot of fun! It’s just a time to be out in the town and see people that maybe you don’t get to see every day,” Columbia resident Lilly Wall said.Wall not only experiences Mule Day every year, but she shares the experience with her friends from across the U.S. She told News 2 every year, friends from as far as Montana visit Columbia for the annual festivities.What started as a place for buying and selling mules, has now turned into a ever growing event that helps families make memories for a lifetime.

This year, Mule Day is April 9 through April 11.