'Nobody remembers history': A Colorado reenactor on telling the complete story of the West
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DURANGO, Colo. — At 9 a.m. on a quiet ranch outside Durango, a 19th-century Colorado Ranger, an Arizona state trooper and an outlaw faced off.
The standoff wasn’t real. It was part of a Wild West shootout staged by reenactors Scott Perez, David Bachman and Tom Dragt.
After a safety check to ensure their guns were unloaded before being filled with blanks, the men launched into character.
“Tom, put it down! You’re going to jail!” the trooper shouted at the outlaw, who clutched a silver pistol.
“I ain’t going to jail. You’re either gonna kill me or I’m killing you first!” the cowboy responded.
Gunfire echoed. Smoke filled the air. Seconds later, the outlaw fell to the ground.
Scenes like this play out at festivals across the region, from the Durango Cowboy Gathering to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.
Perez is a cowboy who has staged reenactments for four decades. Wild West shows of this kind date back more than 150 years, but Perez said his work has taken on more significance recently.
“I think we’ve reached a point in our society where nobody remembers history. If you don’t remember your history, you’re going to repeat the bad stuff periodically,” he said.
Perez spoke with Rocky Mountain PBS about the history, safety and culture behind the tradition.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Rocky Mountain PBS: How did you start doing shootout reenactments?
Scott Perez: When I was a kid, I used to watch Westerns on TV, and I couldn't wait to see the shootouts.
I spent about 50 years as a working cowboy and also guided tours. I always tried to put history into it and tell people stories. I met a group of people in Arizona who were doing the same thing, and we got together and started putting on reenactments.
Back in 1984, I did the first shootout in Arizona. We staged a bank robbery. I had a lot of fun doing it, and obviously, 40-plus years later, I’m still doing it.
RMPBS: What safety precautions go into a reenactment?
SP: I was also a rifle and pistol instructor, so safety has always been the top concern.
You never point your gun at anybody, period. I don’t care if it’s a blank. We always point the guns off to the side slightly, or down low and to the side.
Even though we use blanks for our shootouts, we make sure the spectators are far enough away from us that there’s no chance of anyone getting in the line of fire.
You probably have heard that Bruce Lee’s son got killed by a blank gun. Those old-fashioned blanks had wads in them to hold the powder, and the wad came out with high pressure — that’s what killed him.
We use floral foam in the blanks, like what they stick flowers in for displays. It evaporates as soon as the powder hits it, so we’re safe in that regard.
We also collaborate with police. Here in Durango, if we have a permit to do a gunfight, we contact them. They’ll have officers around to make sure nobody interferes.
RMPBS: How do you come up with the script?
SP: We don’t come up with a script, per se, because none of us want to memorize words. But we have settings and scenes we want to do. We may spend several hours putting together a loose format and perform based on that.
RMPBS: What’s your favorite role to play and why?
SP: Right now, I’m playing a Colorado Ranger. They were the first statewide law enforcement agency, established in 1861, and they’re still active today. Not so many people know about them, so I like to portray this character.
RMPBS: Are most of the performers real cowboys or cowgirls?
SP: There were more back when I first started, but not so much anymore. Now they come from all different backgrounds. I know some are lawyers and some are oilfield workers.
RMPBS: Do you think it’s important to keep this shootout tradition alive?
SP: Yes, I believe it’s important to keep it alive, but it’s part of the bigger picture of keeping the culture and history of the West alive. There’s good to that and there’s bad to that, and I try to cover both when I’m doing a history talk.
I think we’ve reached a point in our society where nobody remembers history. If you don’t remember your history, you’re going to repeat the bad stuff periodically.
Down here in the Southwest was a very multicultural place. The working cowboys were Hispanic, Native, African American. People who built some of the towns were Welsh, Scottish and Irish, Italian. We had a large Asian population downtown at one time.
We have so many different ethnic groups as part of our history, and that got lost somewhere. I really struggle to bring that back.
I try to make sure people understand this was not all just John Wayne type of scenes, even though the gunfights themselves often look that way. But when you show the whole reenactment picture, it’s not quite the same.
RMPBS: What do you hope people walk away with after watching the performance?
SP: I hope when people leave, they leave being entertained and educated. Maybe it sparks a little interest in them. Maybe they’ll look into our history. I want them to think of what came before and what that means moving forward.
I also hope people come to the conclusion that yes, the gunfights happened, but let’s not solve everything by picking up a gun.
Type of story: Q&A
An interview to provide a single perspective, edited for clarity and obvious falsehoods. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
An interview to provide a single perspective, edited for clarity and obvious falsehoods. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.