By
Chico Cheech SASS 35548L
/ TG - SASS®
Cowboy Chronicle, Summer '05
As
all who read this can attest, Cowboy Action Shooting is a great sport and a fun
activity that can be enjoyed by the whole family and all ages. We sometimes call
it a ‘Fantasy Sport’ because many of us remember dressing up as Cowboy and
Cowgirls, and having that Ole’ West adventure when we were younger.
In
the case of the Gila Rangers of Silver City, New Mexico, something happened
about four years ago that gave new and expanded meaning to the term
‘Fantasy’. Captain Eli McDaniel, SASS# 30600, the club President at that
time, came to me one day and said “Chico, friends of mine at the County Fair
asked us to set up a booth, and show some Cowboy Action Shooting to the local
visitors”. Being an ex-Shop Teacher and carpenter that he was, he built a
building facade of a ‘Ranger Station’ on the back of his 16 foot trailer. He
explained that since we couldn’t really shoot live ammo at the Fair, we could
bust some balloons with Black Powder Blanks, perform firearms safety
demonstrations, display our weapons, and tell people what fun we were having in
the hobby/sport of Cowboy Action Shooting. Myself, and a small group of club
members readily agreed. We all dressed in our CAS western duds, and made the
appearance that fall at the 2001 Grant County Fair in Cliff, New Mexico. We were
a great hit, with hundreds of visitors stopping by our display and demo wanting
to know more. At the conclusion of the Fair, we transported the bulky facade out
to our Range in the Mimbres Valley and incorporated it into our developing
collection of range facades and props.
Around that same time, the local Chamber of Commerce solicited our involvement in the receipt and assembly of a gift from Actor/Director Ron Howard (‘Opie’ from The Andy Griffith Show). A log cabin and all of its contents from the Ron Howard movie ‘The Missing’ was donated to Silver City. The cabin site selected was barely 50 feet from the actual homestead of Catherine Antrim, where she and her teenage son, William H. Bonnie ( a.k.a. Billy The Kid) resided from 1873 to 1875. We assisted the movie production prop crew sent from Santa Fe, in the first day of its rough assemble. Upon their departure that same evening, only the cabin’s log walls were in place. Seeing the unfinished dilemma, the Gila Rangers ‘adopted’ the Cabin, and over the next few weeks, completed the assembly and later volunteered to be the Cabin’s maintenance caretaker.
As
time went on, we began to think that the off-site demo was both good for the
club and the sport. (Not to mention how much fun it was to dress-up and wear our
hardware in town and out in the general public). We contemplated a repeat
performance at the upcoming 4th of July festivities which would
feature the dedication of ‘Bill The Kid’s Cabin’. Being the repressed
carpenter I was, I built a flat mobile stage on a 4 x 8 trailer that folds out
to a 16 foot long 8 foot high old west General Store.
Again,
the traveling Rangers made the appearance, and were a big hit with the
inquisitive crowd shooting balloons attached to the General Store, performing
firearm safety, and posing with visitors at the cabin. As before, we got several
interested spectators that subsequently came out to one of our shoots, and
joined the club. But before the day was over, several other organizers of local
community events were asking for our attendance at their activity or festival.
By
the next year, the Gila Ranger ‘Road Show’ had a spring-to-fall appearance
schedule for five public events. They included the Wild, Wild West Day, which is
conducted on the last day of the Pro-Rodeo, the 4th of July Festival,
Fort Bayard Days Historical Exhibit, the Pinos Altos October Fiesta, and the
County Fair. We began calling our traveling trailer our ‘Stage On Wheels’,
or ‘SOW’ for short.
Just
before the Wild, Wild West Day in 2004, the event coordinators asked us to go
‘out of the box’ again. In an effort to excite the waiting crowd before the
historic non-motorized horse and wagon Parade came down the main street, he
asked us to perform a mock re-enactment to capture ‘Billy The Kid’. I told
him that we were not a re-enactment group, but he convinced us to give it a try.
So there we were… riding onto main street in a reproduction stage coach. Four
Marshals dressed all in black get out, and walk abreast down main street looking
for ‘Billy’, who was played by a younger member of our club. The search
ended in the center of town, words were exchanged, guns were a-blazin’, and
next thing you know, the Marshals were loading a wounded Billy The Kid into the
stage to take him to the Silver City Jail. The crowd was thrilled. We then
returned to the Heritage activities at the park, where we had set up the SOW,
and proceeded to do our Road Show demo. Again, lots of visitors and interested
shooters at our display.
Earlier
this year, a former member of our club living in Arizona, contacted us for the
Pride Society of Duncan, Arizona. She had heard of the traveling show, and next
thing you know, we’re in Duncan, as the main attraction at their ‘Duncan
Rampage’. This revised charity event featured sports and activities for young
and old. With the SOW sitting on a horse race track in front of a huge
grandstand, we did our safety and balloon busting demo, while we featured
Mounted Shooting directly behind us in a superb Horsemen’s Arena. Another
dazzled crowd and more interested potential Club and SASS members. There was
even talk of a CAS club getting together in that area. The Pride Society invited
us to return next year, and made a donation to the club to entice us to put the
‘Duncan Rampage’ on our appearance schedule.
As
fate would have, about six months ago, our popularity got us directly involved
in the 2005 Wild, Wild West Day (WWWD) and even into the Pro-Rodeo that sparks
the event. The former organizer for WWWD thought our group could assume all of
the Saturday activities on June 4th
for WWWD. And again, several of the Gila Rangers raised their hand at the
‘wrong’ time. The next thing you know, we’re making calls, sending
letters, getting permits and visiting people to produce a day of western
Heritage activities, Arts and Crafts, food, entertainment, and a non-motorized
Parade. The Pro-Rodeo began on Wednesday night, and we acted as gate attendants
and grandstand ushers during the first two Rodeo nights… in full Cowboy attire
of course. The Rodeo organizers loved the job we did, and the reaction of the
crowd at our costumed presence. By Saturday morning, all of the WWWD activities
we had planned were beginning to assemble. But to start them off, we executed
another re-enactment. Episode II… ‘The Escape of Billy the Kid’. Only this
time, there were more than a dozen Gila Ranger re-enactors, and a dozen more
club members dispersed within the street crowds. A 15 minute show followed that
really got the spectators involved and cheering things like… “Don’t take
him out of town!” and “Hang him here!”. We even had wireless microphones
and a dozen guns smoking up Silver City downtown streets in a confrontation with
Billy’s gang of Lincoln County Regulators. Another great success for the fun
and excitement of the Cowboy life, and more club notoriety and potential
interested members. Billy did finally make his escape, but fallen Lawmen and
outlaws littered the streets.
This
all started as a way to expand the time we could dress-up and play like Cowboys
and Cowgirls, and somehow get involved in community events and heritage
activities. We figured it would be good for the areas public interest and
tourist economy, and may even help the club grow. Who would have guessed it
could make such a difference?
Now,
Silver City, New Mexico has a population of about 14,000, and Grant County about
35,000. But if you meet someone around town, or at a gathering, or go into a
business and mention that you are a Gila Ranger, everybody knows who you are.
Rumor has it… 2006 Wild, Wild West Day might see Episode III… ‘Revenge of
the Kid!’.
Click on Photo for Larger View:
The
Gila Ranger’s escapades can be followed, in print and by photos, at our
website www.gilarangers.com.