The Villages Old Cowboy Movie Fan Club will celebrates its 10-year anniversary Wednesday evening at the Canal Street Recreation Center with a showing of old Western favorites and birthday cake.
The group will also be celebrating the 81st birthday of their longtime member, Michael Mendoza of the Village of Piedmont.
Mendoza explained that Villager Paul Kinder was the organizer of the club and that he first met the group’s leader for the first time at the first club meeting ever.
“I became his backup and have never missed a single club meeting in the past nine years,” said Mendoza who will be hosting Wednesday’s evening event since Kinder is out of town.
The celebration will also mark the start of a new serial that the group is running.
There will be a showing of chapter one of “Desperadoes of the West,” a screening of the cartoon “The Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote” and a showing of the classic Western film “Marshal of Cripple Creek.”
Mendoza, who has resided in The Villages since 2002, has helped out with many of the other movie clubs in the community. He will be at the event sporting his western outfit, complete with a six-gun holster and a Colt 45 replica, U.S. Marshall’s badge and a Henry rifle.
Attendees can also meet the following club leaders: Stu Sachs of the TV Nostalgia Club, Larry Clark of the Classic Movie Lovers Club, Ed Carr of the Disney and Foreign Film Club, actor performer Scott Wozniak of the Old Radio Drama Club, Christofur Sinclair of the Villages Comic Book Club and Dave Burns of the Film Noir at the Savannah Center.
Refreshments served at the event will be popcorn, beef jerky, cookies and birthday cake.
The event will begin at 7 p.m.