Old West How the West was Filmed at
Old Tucson Studios
Gather ‘round the chuck wagon for a finger-licking cowboy cookout, with authentic Old West entertainment at Old Tucson Studios-the award-winning movie location and theme park immortalized in more than 300 Western feature films and television shows. Your private lunch will be at The High Chaparral Ranch, the setting for the popular 1960s TV series of the same name. A duo of friendly cowboys will serenade you with songs and stories of "How the West was Filmed" in Tucson while your cook dishes up ranch-style vittles. Afterward, you'll want to join in the sing-along of Hollywood's best-loved Western tunes. This one-of-a-kind cookout and "reel" history package includes admission to the theme park, featuring legendary stunt shows, staged gunfights, and musical revues, as well as stops at the movie memorabilia museum and gift shops. For $5 per person, group photos with your cowboy duo are available at scenic settings, including The High Chaparral Ranch set, the Old Tucson Lines stagecoach in Town Square, and the Reno locomotive train engine.
Sample Menu: Choice of grilled chicken breast or hamburger, with tender baked beans and crunchy coleslaw.
Cost: $25/person
Attendees: 20 min./60 max.
Length: 1 hour (plus time in park)
Times: Daily, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Reservations: At least 2 weeks in advance. 50% non-refundable deposit due at that time. Remainder due upon arrival. Old Tucson Studios reserves the right to cancel due to changes in operations. Deposit would be refunded, in this case.
Contact: Gilbert LaRoque, Old Tucson Studios, 201 S. Kinney Rd., Tucson, AZ 85735, 520-883-0100 ext. 264, glaroque@oldtucson.com, www.oldtucson.com
 Celebrate the Cowboys at Tucson's Rodeo and Parade
Tucson returns to its roots every February during La Fiesta de los Vaqueros-the city's Celebration of the Cowboys-to experience real Western heritage and watch championship rodeo events under warm, winter skies. The Tucson Rodeo is a local tradition since 1925 and the centerpiece of this weeklong major outdoor event. The rodeo is ranked as a top professional rodeo and features exciting professional events such as bareback riding, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, team roping, bull riding, and women's barrel racing, plus a country western music concert. The Tucson Rodeo Parade is a treasured tradition of rodeo week, billed as the longest non-motorized parade in the world and features more than 200 western-theme floats and buggies, Mexican folk dancers, and musicians.
Season: This event normally takes place mid-February. Check www.visitTucson.org/calendar for dates.
Attendees: Groups of 10 or more receive a 20% discount on ticket purchases.
Cost: Tucson Rodeo Tickets: $10-$19; Tucson Rodeo Parade Grandstand Seating Tickets: $3 and $4
Contact: Tucson Rodeo and Tucson Rodeo Parade Committees stage La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, Tucson Rodeo Grounds, 4823 S. 6th Ave., Tucson, AZ 85714, 520-741-2233, 800-964-5662, www.tucsonrodeo.com.
The Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum Located at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds and open year-round, this historical museum displays 150 buggies, wagons, and surries many of which are used in the annual parade. To arrange for private group viewings, call the museum office at 520-294-1280.
Cost: Suggested $5 donation
Contact: Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum 4823 S. 6th Ave., Tucson, AZ 85714, 520-294-1280
 Wild West Legends of Tombstone
Walk the same route the Earps and Doc Holliday did on the streets of Tombstone, Arizona to the gunfight that made them legends. Visit the final resting place of many of Tombstone's most famous and infamous characters. Enjoy a re-enactment of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and carouse with your friends in the 1881 frontier theater that the New York Times called "the wildest, roughest, wickedest honky tonk between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast." The Bird Cage Theater was the scene for 26 deaths during its eight years of business. Your guide is John Rose, a noted historian who has appeared on the Voice of America and in Arizona Highways magazine. Tour includes: O.K. Corral gunfight re-enactment, Bird Cage Theater, Tombstone Courthouse, Boothill Graveyard, a walking tour of Tombstone's major streets, and lunch at the Tombstone Café.
Sample Menu: Ham and cheese or turkey sandwich served with potato chips and iced tea.
Cost: $28.50/person
Attendees: 20 min./80 max.
Length: 5 hours including lunch
Contact: John Rose, Tombstone and Thunder Valley Tours, P.O. Box 787, Hereford, AZ 85615, 520-378-2539, johnrose@theriver.com
 True Stories of "The Town Too Tough to Die"
Visit Tombstone and experience the history and grandeur of "The Town Too Tough to Die." Learn the true story of the Earps, "three men hurled into eternity in the duration of a moment." See one of your group "hanged" by Tombstone cowboys. Visit the home of one of Tombstone's few remaining pioneer families, as well as the location of the world's largest rose bush-the Tombstone Rose. Walk the graveyard where many of the city's most famous and infamous characters are buried. At the Tombstone Courthouse Museum, see the rifle belonging to Tombstone founder Ed Schieffelin as well as the original bar from one of Wyatt Earp's favorite saloons. Your guide is John Rose, a noted historian who has appeared on the Voice of America and in Arizona Highways magazine.
Tour includes: a mock-hanging by the Tombstone Vigilantes, Tombstone Courthouse Museum, Boothill Graveyard, Tombstone Epitaph Museum, Rose Tree Museum, a walking tour of the major streets of Tombstone, and lunch at the Tombstone Cafe.
Sample Menu: Ham and cheese or turkey sandwich served with potato chips and iced tea.
Cost: $20/person
Attendees: 20 min./80 max.
Length: 5 hours including lunch
Contact: John Rose, Tombstone and Thunder Valley Tours, P.O. Box 787, Hereford, AZ 85615, 520-378-2539, johnrose@theriver.com
 Gamblers & Miners of 1880s Boomtown
Relive the days of Tombstone, a former mining boomtown, and learn the history of its gamblers, gunfighters, and ladies of a lesser moral character. Hear the details of the longest poker game in history, which was held at the Bird Cage Theater, and view a former residence of Tombstone, Arizona, pioneers. At the O.K. Corral, walk where Tombstone's most notorious gunfighters fell and hear stories from other famous town events. Tour includes: Boothill Graveyard and Essential Guide Book, the Pioneer Home, Bird Cage Theater, O.K. Corral Tour including Tombstone's Historama and Tombstone Epitaph (mock-gunfight can be added for an additional $2/person), and sit-down, box, or picnic lunch.
Sample Menu: Choose one of the following sandwiches, all served with pickle spear, chips and soda or iced tea: barbecue beef, cold roast beef, tuna salad, or egg salad.
Cost: $23/person; $25/person with O.K. Corral gunfight
Attendees: 20 min./60 max.
Length: 2 hours; 3 hours with O.K. Corral gunfight
Contact: Paula Reed, Tombstone Office of Tourism, P.O. Box 248, Tombstone, AZ 85638, 800-457-3423
 Vigilante Hangin'
Participate in a mock-hanging featuring a selected member of your group as the cowboy actors of the Tombstone Vigilantes make sure that the "trouble-maker" gets what he or she deserves (and receives a little tombstone to commemorate the event).
Cost: $60/group
Length: 30 minutes
Reservation: The Tombstone Vigilantes require advance notice of the name of the person who will be mock "hanged" so a miniature commemorative tombstone can be created.
Contact: Tombstone Vigilantes, P.O. Box 144, Tombstone, AZ 85638, info@tombstonevigilantes.com.
 Step Back in Time at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park
Tubac Presidio State Historic Park-Arizona's first state park-houses remnants of the military fort founded by the Spanish in 1752. Here, you can visit the underground display of portions of the original foundation, walls, and plaza floor of the Presidio (fort) de San Ignacio de Tubac. Enjoy lunch in the picnic area, and visit the 1885 schoolhouse and Visitor Center. Historic exhibits trace Tubac's precarious past-from the days of Apache raids through its 1860 status as Arizona's largest frontier town. If you're here in mid-October, plan to attend Anza Days, a weekend of heritage tourism and fun. For a description, see the Anza Tour itinerary on page 18.
Guided Tours: Tours around the park grounds are lead by staff and volunteers dressed in historical costumes who talk about the history of the site. Learn what life was like for the presidio soldiers and their families, including what they ate and the illnesses they faced. Visit the second oldest schoolhouse in Arizona, and see Arizona's first newspaper press. Afterward, visit nearby Tubac Village-renowned for charming cafes, shops, and galleries.
Cost: $4/person, Discounts for groups of 15 persons or more
Hours: Visitor Center open daily year-round, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; closed Christmas day.
Attendees: 12 min./25 max.
Length: 1-2 hours
Los Tubaquenos Living History Program: Los Tubaquenos present life at the presidio as it was between 1752 and 1776. Demonstrations feature food, weaving, and mining. Program takes place every Sun. from 1-4 p.m., Oct.-Mar. Cost is included in $3/person park admission fee.
Contact: Terri Leverton, Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, P.O. Box 1296/1 Burruel St., Tubac, AZ 85646, 520-398-2252  Old Bisbee Step-on Tour
As you enter Bisbee through the mountain tunnel-locally known as the "Time Tunnel"-you'll be transported back to the bygone days of mule trains, rowdy miners, and Victorian styles. At the turn of the 20th century, Bisbee, Arizona was the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco and a bustling regional cultural center. Today, Bisbee offers a rare glimpse of the past and exudes Old World charm through preserved buildings, neighborhoods, and attractions. When you arrive in downtown "Old Bisbee," your step-on guide will show you the city highlights. Travel to the Open Pit Copper Mine and learn about the 24-hour operation of mining. Next, visit the Warren District to view the "Copper Country Mansions" of the former mining executives before stopping at the town's newer section, started after 1945. The tour concludes back in Old Bisbee with a trip up the canyon where the diverse architecture of the many grand old buildings and miners' shacks make you feel that you truly have traveled back
in time.
Sample Menu: Chicken salad on croissant, pasta salad, fresh fruit, crudités with dip, brownie, water, and soda. Option: Gourmet box lunch in the park-weather permitting.
Cost: $50/coach, additional $10/person if lunch is included
Attendees: 1 coach
Length: 1 hour
Contact: Bobbe Hossman, P.O. Box 1338, Bisbee, AZ 85603, 520-432-3146
 The American Cowboy-Fact Versus Fiction
Go beyond the glamorous movie images and legendary tall tales and discover what a real cowboy's life was like. Western culture expert Tom Chambers dispels common myths to create a more accurate picture of authentic cowboy life. Examine the clothing and gear that have become the visual identity of the cowboy and discuss how these symbols have evolved over time. Your group can join participative demonstrations to uncover the truth about life in the Old West and why the cowboy has been elevated to the status of classic American hero.
Cost: $250/group
Attendees: 5 min./100 max.
Length: 1 hour
Contact: Tom Chambers, 635 N. Wentworth Rd., Tucson, AZ 85748, 520-404-8600, tchambers@horseyodeler.com
More Old West Ideas:
The Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum Exhibits give an explanation of how Bisbee came about, and lifestyles of a century ago.
Bisbee Queen Mine Tour Don a mining lantern, hat, and slicker and ride the mine train deep into the mine and experience the life of the miners as a former miner tells you how they toiled in the subterranean tunnels.
The Gaslight Theatre Thrill to a fun and foot-stomping musical comedy melodrama, complete with honky-tonk piano playing, sing alongs, and more.
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral See Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and Virgil and Morgan Earp fight the McLaurys and Clantons in daily 2 p.m. gunfight re-enactments.
Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse at Trail Dust Town Taste the Old West at Tucson's original cowboy steakhouse.
Rex Allen Arizona Cowboy Museum Honors hometown boy Rex Allen, the singing cowboy star. |
