(Radio Iowa) A celebration of the Duke will be held in southwest Iowa’s Madison County this weekend. The John Wayne Birthplace and Museum in Winterset will honor what would have been the actor’s 117th birthday with a two-day festival. Museum spokesman Brian Downes says they’re expecting fans from far and wide to make the pilgrimage. “These events began in 2007 with John Wayne’s 100th birthday, and the public demand was such as that except for two years off for the Coronavirus, we’ve been doing them ever since,” Downes says. “It’s a salute, it’s movies, it’s music, it’s food, celebrities and the whole town just rolls out the welcome for John Wayne’s world.” The events get underway in Winterset on Friday.

“We’re going to welcome folks at town with a book signing at the John Wayne Birthplace Museum, and on hand will be author Scott Eyman who wrote extensively on John Wayne and John Ford, which is our theme,” Downes says. “After that, we move to the Iowa theater, recently restored, and we’re going to have a movie discussion and then we’re going to screen ‘The Searchers’ on the big screen, which is kind of a rare treat.”

Other events through the weekend include a fly-in of vintage aircraft at the Winterset airport, museum tours, cavalry reinactors, a 5-K walk-run, and a big-screen showing of “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.” Learn more at https://johnwaynebirthplace.museum/