Wild West battles relived at Ushers Ferry

Civil War re-inactors are trading in their blue and grey uniforms and rifles for cowboy hats, chaps and revolvers this weekend in Cedar Rapids. Vicki Hughes is director of the historic Ushers Ferry village which is featuring a series of Wild West gunfights today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday). Hughes says several gunfights will be re-created, including the Cook County War and the famous gunfight at O.K. Corral. Hughes says it’ll be a fun-filled weekend of robberies and shoot-outs between outlaws and gunslingers. Hughes says the gunfights are all researched and are authentic reproductions. She says each day starts with a segment called “Hollywood vs Reality” as the re-inactors show how the movies re-create the gunfights and then how they actually happened. Hughes says the group putting on the demonstrations is called Willi’s Territorial Rough Riders. They’re from Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. There are about 50 of the re-inactors who usually portray the Civil War but are good students of history and like to demonstrate other eras too. For more information, call (319) 286-5763 or surf to “www.cedar-rapids.org/ushers”.