Wild West gallops into Sisters with a bang

The crowd gasped as Deadwood Pete shot the sheriff, Stonewood Kid, deader than a doornail during a Wild West skit and shootout on Saturday and Sunday.

Pine Mountain Posse provided the skits and shootouts staged around a Western town façade as part of the first Sisters Wild West Show in Creekside Park.

The first real Wild West Show was Buffalo Bill Cody's. It was formed in 1883 and lasted until 1913. The shows had many Western performers and personalities. Today we still like to romanticize the Old West.

"We all belong to the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS) which has been around since the early 1980s," said Pine Mountain Posse club "Marshall" Wade Palmer, a.k.a. Whisperin' Wade. "We've been doing this for about 15 years. But this is our first actual reenactment and we hope to be doing more like this. We used blanks from our real guns for the reenactment and followed all the rules and regulations according to the sheriff's department for safety."

Palmer's wife, Arctic Annie, spoke up. "We dress in authentic or authentic replica clothing for our shootouts and always go by our 'Western' names. All of our firearms are pre-1900 replicas."

"It's a Cowboy Action Shooting club and is one of the fastest-growing family sports," says Palmer. "We shoot at the COSSA range on Highway 20, east of Bend. We have a meeting hall and a clubhouse we built complete with Old West building fronts."

"The whole family is involved," Whisperin Wade's mom, Diamond Willow, said. "It's competitive shooting. But Cowboy Action Shooting is more about having fun."

The 60 feet of Western town façade was donated by Kathy Smith from Prairie City, Oregon.

"My husband and I used to do reenactments for years," recalled Smith. "Since he passed away my son and I decided to put together one false front. The next thing I knew community volunteers helped build more and more false fronts. We are now a non-profit organization. Mainly what we do is reenactments to promote history."

The park was filled with Native American and Western-themed art. Vendors dressed in Western style. Folks admired the Native American tepees that were located around the park.

Vendor Ken Coleman from Halsey showed off his array of Western saddles.

"I've collected antique cowboy paraphernalia over the years. I make my own saddles and find antique ones. I live in a farming community and work out of an old converted chicken coop."

Folks stopped to enjoy the country & western music performed by Passin' Notes in between shootouts. Tessa and Destyni from Bandon are a young energetic sister team that not only delighted folks with their vocals, but entertained them with a dance step or two.

Native American vendor Molly Kubista from Terrebonne was dressed in the attire of her Samish Indian Tribe.

"I sell native folk art and ledger art. Ledger art is old bookkeeping documents that could be 150 years old. It's rare to find paper from the 1800s. The paper is very fragile," said Kubista. "I draw my Native American art on the document and it becomes more valuable. I had a document from the civil war that Lincoln signed. It's a highly collectable art form."

Some folks became real thirsty waiting for the Pine Mountain Posse shootouts. So they visited the local saloon that was well equipped with picnic tables if you wanted to set a spell and eat some grub. The saloon hosted by Bend/Sisters Garden RV Resort had a variety of beers and ales.

Richard Esterman, event organizer, was dressed in Western attire for his very first Wild West Show event.

"I really enjoyed the Wild West reenactment skit and shootouts performed by the Pine Mountain Posse," said Esterman. "This first year has been a success and the turnout was phenomenal. I always enjoy bringing new entertainment to Sisters."

The Museum at Warm Springs booth brought a little bit of history from the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation, including some of their unique assortment of merchandise from their gift shop.