Goldfield Gunfighters

In Goldfield Ghost Town any weekend between November and April, not-​so-​spontaneous gunfights erupt in the main thoroughfare among outlaws, sheriffs, deputies, drunks, and saloon girls.
I say «not-​so-​spontaneous» since they pretty much warn 15 minutes beforehand that a gunfight will commence and to keep of the street. Even just before the act they threaten that if anyone steps off the boardwalks or ignores their precautions in any way, they will stop the show. Why? Even though they aren’t actually firing bullets at each other, their guns are still blasting black powder that can cause serious burns.
The gunfights are a bit on the cheesy side, which is too be expected with how touristy Goldfield tends to be. You know, it’s Midwest snowbirds and the European sightseers. They come to an Arizona ghost town, and it’s for the quintessential reason people went to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West shows last century. They want the old west experience (which equates to seeing some grizzled guy in a cowboy hat getting shot).
I’ve seen their act a few times and rarely with the exact same participants or even with the same outcome. The sheriff might get killed off this time, but then a bordello woman in nothing but hot pink bloomers and a feather boa pulls a shotgun from behind her back and blasts away the stagecoach robber.
Once all is said and done, the dearly departed rise up and take pictures with the crowd or answer questions, what have you. Sometimes the gunfighters work the hangman’s gallows photo-​op area where the noose comes open easily and is Velcro’d closed. When the gunfighter counts down to take the shot he makes the trapdoor jump, which freaks out the person standing there with their neck looped in rope.