Beer for Bullets

Posted on 9/1/2008 at 11:28:16 PM

The Medicine Park Marauders manned the beer booth for the 2nd annual Mayors Blues ball for Labor Day weekend.  Peddling beer instead of Buffalo Elixir, volunteer Marauders started early Saturday setting up tents, tables and filling coolers with beer & ice. Calamity Lee and her sidekick, Scooter Hibby, took the first shift from high noon to 2:00. With Calamity doing the “ice running”. Doc Holyday and Miss Vycke worked the booth from 2:00 until 4:00 with Little Britches, Marshal Payne and Tulsa Sue relieving them at 4:00. They were joined shortly by Ma Scotty & Danger Dan & daughters who arrived in their Model T Ford.  An occasional OOGA OOOOGA from the Model T attracted more people and attention to the beer booth.

At 5:50 a pair of shady looking outlaws, Seth Wright & Rattlesnake Bill, meandered over to the beer booth and proceeded to harass the Marshal & Little Britches. Both were busy poppin’ tops for customers so Marshal Payne called for reinforcement from Marshal Odie to take care of those two ruffians. But the outlaws tempted Odie to join their side in taking over the booth by pointing out they would get all that beer. Marshal Odie took a looooong look at the coolers full of beer and removed his badge. The three approached the beer booth demanding we hand it over to them. Marshal Payne dropped the beer bottle opener and pulled his .45 and the gunfight erupted. Out numbered by four six guns and a shotgun Marshal Payne’s one gun was soon out of bullets. Forced to flee, the booth was left to the dastardly trio. Reinforced by Calamity Lee, the Marauder late shift held on until the crowd moved to the other end of town for the last blues band of the night.

Sunday we restocked the coolers with ice and beer for day two of the Blues Ball, and followed the schedule of Saturday for manning the booth with the edition of good looking sweet talkin’ Quick Change Donnavan. By the end of the day the Marauder beer hustlers were exhausted and held a discount sale to get clear out the last few bottles of beer. The coolers were dumped and stowed away and we wandered down to catch a bit of the last blues band of the festival before heading home to collapse.

It was good weekend with a great crowd and healthy sales. The Marauders/Medicine Show will receive a nice chunk of the beer sales profits to buy more blanks and restock the Medicine Show. Here’s to you who bought the beer so we can shoot another day.