MADDIES RETIREMENT GALA.

I attended a retirement party for my friend Madelaine Krska. She retired from the county as head of the Elections Department and is moving to Arizona as soon as she sells her place. Dang. Maddie gave all the good parties. Now, none of us know what to do?
She requested we come in costume so I went as a gambler. I didn’t make any money at it, but I had a lot of fun.


This is Maddie and a friend whose name I don’t know.


The Arts council puts on a fun event named for the Great Gatsby, and many people at the party attend that event and dressed to do the Charleston and show off their 1920’s and 30’s costumes.


I fit right in with the gangsters.

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Irene sang along with the band.


I normally take decent pictures. With my spare battery in the motor home I avoided flash in a very low light situation, and should have taken 25 good flash photos instead of 104 lousy ones, most of which I had to throw out. Those I saved are mostly marginal. Dang, again. I gambled and lost.


Goodbye, Maddie. We’ll visit you in Scottsdale.


 

GUNFIGHTERS ENTERTAINING AND HISTORICAL

Sunday, after a hearty Breakfast at Brownie’s Café, we tripped over to the Yuma Territorial Prison to watch a Gathering Of The Gunfighters. They had re-enactment groups from California, Nevada and Arizona at this particular annual affair. They have a three day competition and judging of their skills and costuming. Notable was the knock-up western buildings which, while small, weren’t far from the real time shacks and shanties of old West towns.
Today, Gunfighter groups are so popular they are divided into eras. The 1850’s, the 1880’s, early 1900s. Some are fancy “Dan” gamblers and Shady Ladies, Spanish Vacqueros, and Basque Herders or an outlaw gang or simple western cowpunchers. These groups first competition was in the form of a skit. One depicted the lawlessness of the old West and the repercussions of new rules preventing the carrying of guns into the saloons. Another about western Mayors and Sheriff’s bribing Mexicans to vote for them, even when they ignored them the rest of the year, and so on. It was entertaining even if a bit corny. The costuming was rich. Perhaps the serious competition was slated for later in the day.
I’ve seen gunfighter groups who ply their hobby with such seriousness that the altercation they re-enact is anything but corny. It is so realistic, babies cry, dogs howl and grown men shiver at what the Old West was really like.