A Saturday full of festivities in downtown El Dorado centered around Summer on the Square was capped off with a performance of Showdown at Sunset, a long-running historical re-enactment of a gunfight that took place on the courthouse square in 1902.
The re-enactment this year featured musical numbers and tells the story of animosity between Marshal Guy Tucker and the Parnell brothers, resulting in a gunfight that left three men dead and several wounded.
According to an archived News-Times article, the re-enactment began in 1997, has become an annual and award-winning tradition and is performed three times each summer.
This year’s reenactment is sponsored by the South Arkansas Preservation Society.
Cast members included Darrin Riley as Walter, Bill Meyer as Jim, Thomas Brewster as Tom, Charley Hankins as Bob Mullins, Keith Owens as Harrison Dearing, Cherie Bright as Miss Jessie and Yancey Kyle as Marshal Guy Tucker and the Parnell brothers.
Main Street El Dorado executive director Beth Brumley took the stage following the re-enactment to offer words of thanks to cast members and sponsors and celebrate the show going on after a year off.
“We added three new cast members and didn’t do this in 2020, obviously. The most phone calls we got weekly were about if we were bringing Showdown at Sunset back… It’s hard to learn, and we got the last cast members in mid-May so they had to learn it [quickly],” Brumley said.
Summer on the Square will be back on July 24 with a “south of the border” theme.