Shoot-em-up Wild West Show rides into Sisters

The Old West and a good old-fashioned gun fight went hand-in-hand for the second-annual Wild West Show at Sisters' Creekside Park last Saturday and Sunday.

The park lawn was transformed back to a time when the Old West was alive and well, during the days when folks looked each other in the eye as they met and weren't afraid to say "Howdy," or when you might find yourself blasting away at a few "bad guys," trying to save the stagecoach.

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

The American west had all sorts of people including lawmen, outlaws, gangs, gunslingers, and cowboys. Most of these people had one thing in common: they were looking for an opportunity and weren't afraid of adventure, and that included a few notable gunfights.

On Saturday the first shootout performance was at high noon, and during the skit spectators got to step back into the wild age of gunfighters, saloons, and cowboys, like a scene out of a John Wayne Western that came alive, in the spirit of the Old West.

The Pine Mountain Posse was back for their second year, performing six Wild West skits and shootouts with "Tetherow Tex LaRue" as the new marshall in town.

"I'm the club president this year," said James Hawkins, a.k.a. Tetherow Tex LaRue. "I grew up on farms and ranches, so it's a lot of fun getting to come out and play with real guns. I've learned so much historically, in the past four years, since I've been a member of the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS), which promotes the sport of cowboy action shooting. We use black-powder blanks when shooting, which gives you lots of smoke and a loud noise. It's all certified for safety."

Cowboy action shooting is the fastest-growing shooting sport in the world, and is embraced by men, women and youngsters from all parts of the globe where folks have the freedom to engage in the safe use of firearms.

"Sliver Sage Outlaw," a.k.a. Rod Mayfield, playing the part of narrator at the beginning of each skit, was on hand talking to "Mean Lean Betty Jean," a.k.a. Betty Jean Petry.

"My wife, Cascade Annie, and I are both involved in SASS, and we travel all over the United States in shooting competitions. It's all about the sport of shooting and meeting people with the same interest, wherever you go. Most of the Pine Mountain Posse practice at the COSSA shooting range east of Bend," said Silver Sage Outlaw. "In order to shoot, you need to have a pre-1900 firearm, or a replica, like a single-action revolver, and then another part of the deal is to adopt a shooting alias from the Old West and dress in period-correct attire."

"I was here last year for the Wild West Show, and I think it looks more authentic this time because we have children involved in the skits. Entire families get involved in the SASS, sometimes three generations," said Mean Lean Betty Jean.

Addie Kroytz, a.k.a. "Addie Rose," a fourth-grade student at Sisters Elementary School, was excited to be a part of the Wild West Show, and to be able to dress in authentic-looking attire.

"My dad answered an ad in the Nugget Newspaper because someone was looking for kids to be in the show," said Kroytz.

It was a cattle call that Richard Esterman ran in the paper months ago, looking for kids to add to the Wild West Show, said Rick Kroytz, Addie's dad. "Addie is a ham; she already played a bit part in 'The Barista Times,' a humorous Web series filmed at Sisters Coffee Company. I answered the ad, and now she's having loads of fun doing Wild West skits with the Pine Mountain Posse."

During the days of the Old West there were frontier skirmishes between the American settlers, who had firearms, and Native Americans, who had weapons just as deadly.

The role of the Native American stone-knapper was extremely important in all the Native American tribes. One of the most important roles of the men was to make weapons for hunting and for fighting.

Greg Booth, from Sisters, set up his authentic-looking Indian tepee on the park lawn for a Native American touch. He also brought along a few relics for sale along with arrowheads, knives, and a tomahawk that he stone-knapped from obsidian.

"I've been seriously knapping since I moved to Central Oregon about 10 years ago," said Booth. "I used to be a horseshoer, and I do ironwork. I also hold monthly primitive skills meetings in Sisters. Primitive skills are a default condition, when you have nothing else."

Folks got real thirsty and hungry waiting for the Pine Mountain Posse shootouts, so they grabbed some lemonade and a little grub to eat from Bad Boys Barbecue while they sat a spell at the picnic tables under the big tent.

Blacksmith Chuck Weishoff was on hand selling his boot-racks made with horseshoes, iron steak-turners, and pot-racks while doing blacksmithing demonstrations throughout the weekend.

Event organizer Esterman, dressed in Western attire, was smiling when he saw the line for the Wild West Show backed up to the street.

"This is a great family crowd here today. I'm glad I put a casting call in the paper for kids in Sisters to join the show. I wanted more of a variety for the Wild West Show."