OUT THERE : SHOOT 'EM UP WILD WEST JUBILEE BRINGS IN THOUSANDS OF WILD WEST WANNABES FOR RIDIN', ROPIN' AND FUN.Byline: Rochelle Kaplan Daily News Staff Writer ``Rowdy Kate'' shielded her skin from the blistering sun with a lacy parasol as she eyed the mounted-horse competitions Saturday on the main staging field. One of thousands of participants from around the country who made the annual trek to Norco, a few miles south of Ontario, for the End of Trail Cowboy Shoot Out and Wild West Jubilee, Kate was dressed authentically in the style of the Old West. A member of the Single Action Shooting Action shooting is a term that encompasses target shooting events where the shooter's score is based on both the accuracy and elapsed time. Disciplines covered by the term include:
a competition in the pleasure horse sport comprising usually one day each for dressage, cross country and show jumping. , now in its 15th year, to preserve and celebrate the cowboy way of life - Kate got involved when her husband joined the group. ``I don't shoot, but I enjoy the dressing up,'' she said. ``It's fun. You feel like a different person.'' While ``Rowdy Kate'' is content to remain on the fringes of the group, most members of SASS actively participate in the shooting competitions. Using original or replica Colt revolvers and rifles, competitors shoot at metal targets at various distances. Contestants can be recognized easily by their holstered hol·ster n. 1. A case of leather or similar material into which a pistol fits snugly and which attaches to a belt, strap, or saddle so that it may be carried or transported. 2. firearms attached to ammunition-filled belts slung low on their hips, over their costumes. And when there is a lull in shooting events, there are many other activities from which to choose: Historical re-enactments, mounted-horse events, a cavalry encampment, trick roping, bullwhip bull·whip n. A long, plaited rawhide whip with a knotted end. tr.v. bull·whipped, bull·whip·ping, bull·whips To whip or beat with a bullwhip. and gun-handling exhibitions are just a few. ``This is the big one, the big event of the year,'' said ``Bad Jack'' Abernathy of Fredericksburg, Texas, who, with his wife ``Silver Bullet Bev,'' has been to four such events this year. The two, whose real names are Joe and Theresa, are members of the Texan Rangers chapter of SASS and never miss the End of Trail event. Like all members, they chose their aliases from real or imagined characters of the Old West. While all names need to be approved by the society and none can be duplicated, many are chosen for certain romantic reasons. ``Bad Jack,'' took his alias from a ``kin'' of his whom he claims captured Oklahoma wolves barehanded bare·hand·ed adv. & adj. With no covering on the hands: barehanded boxing. bare with Teddy Roosevelt in 1905. In her low-cut, full-length pink bustled dress and fingerless black lace gloves, ``Rowdy Kate'' of San Diego looked as if she had walked off the set of Gunsmoke. Only her modern-day sunglasses betrayed her period apparel. ``Rowdy Kate ran a saloon and all the various things that go along with that,'' she explained. ``Her husband was kind of an unsavory character, too.'' The event brings out all sorts of groups who are able to find some connection to the Old West. Jay Gallagher of San Diego was a part of a group of 13 representing the ``Gordon Highlanders,'' a Scottish infantry unit that went into Egypt in 1882 to protect Great Britain's interests in the Suez Canal. ``(The Highlanders) are old, but a little east of west,'' said Gallagher, who was dressed in a kilt kilt Knee-length, skirtlike garment worn by men as part of the traditional national garb, or Highland dress, of Scotland. It is made of permanently pleated wool and wrapped around the wearer's waist so that the pleats are in the back and the flat ends overlap in front. with a pith pith, in botany, core of the stem of most plants. Pith is composed of large, loosely packed food-storage cells. As the stem grows older the pith usually dries out, and in some it disintegrates and the stem becomes hollow. helmet nearly covering his eyes. ``We were contemporaries of the American `E' Troop, Seventh Cavalry, which was around in 1885.'' Although the event is geared toward family entertainment with pony rides, a petting zoo and crafts and games for the kids, adults seemed to be the ones living a fantasy. Len and Linda Beiser of Van Nuys - ``Lefty Lindy'' and ``Indian Trader'' - dressed in beaded-suede outfits designed to resemble American Indian garb. Members of SASS for 14 years, the couple attends monthly shooting events at an outdoor range north of Sylmar put on by their local chapter, the Panorama Sportsman's Club. They view their participation in SASS as a respite from the structured world. ``Five days a week I wear a three-piece suit and carry a leather attache ATTACHE. Connected with, attached to. This word is used to signify those persons who are attached to a foreign legation. An attache is a public minister within the meaning of the Act of April 30, 1790, s. 37, 1 Story's L. U. S. case to the Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or ,'' said Len Beiser, a businessman who wore a Davey Crockett-type raccoon raccoon, nocturnal New World mammal of the genus Procyon. The common raccoon of North America, Procyon lotor, also called coon, is found from S Canada to South America, except in parts of the Rocky Mts. and in deserts. hat on his head. ``This is an adult Disneyland for us.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color) A shooting competition is one of the eventsat the End of Trail Cowboy Shoot Out and Wild West Jubilee in Norco. Edna Trunnell / Daily News |
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