Dobby’s Fall Festival is Saturday and Sunday, September 18-19. There will be several vendors, musicians, and activities for guests. One of the activities visitors enjoy most is Cowboy Fast Draw. Cowboy Fast Draw is a family-oriented sport based on the romance and legends of the Old West.
The Sandhill Outlaws and Angels is affiliated with the Cowboy Fast Draw Association (CFDA). They meet the second Sunday of every month at Dobby’s Frontier Town to practice their skills. The CFDA motto is Safety First, Fun Second, and Competition Third. They place sportsmanship and fun above the competition itself, and place safety above all. Only wax bullets are used.
Regular participants dress the part with cowboy hats and clothes their great-great-grandparents might have worn. They have unique handles or aliases. It is a fast sport, and during a match people generally can shoot several times. Cowboy Fast Draw shoots hundreds of events a year for prize money, prizes and titles. The “draw” to Cowboy Fast Draw is that it is a family sport and anyone can do it.
Western movies were king during the 20s, 30s and 40s, with Tom Mix and Gene Autry as Hollywood’s top box office stars. Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, John Wayne and a host of others became huge sensations. But it was really 50s television that spawned the nationwide interest in Fast Draw. The Westerns ruled the small screen for a decade, with everyone tuning in to watch their favorite cowboy heroes. Every kid wanted his own holster and cap gun.
The first fast draw competition was held at Knotts Berry Farm in California in 1954. One of their performers invented a fast draw timer. Clubs formed throughout the country and the first national organization was formed in 1961. Today’s Cowboy Fast Draw Association was created in 2002.
The equipment used in Cowboy Fast Draw and at Dobby’s includes competition six-guns, holsters, targets, and wax bullets. The Gunslinger timer measures speed to the nearest thousandth of a second.
So how fast are you? Join us at Dobby’s Fall Festival to find out! Dobby’s Fall Festival is Saturday, Sept. 18, 10-5, and Sunday, Sept. 19, 10-4. Dobby’s Frontier Town is located at 320 E 25th St/ Nance Road, Alliance, Nebraska. The town is open for self-guided tours from 10-6 daily.