Unexpected Fun

Yesterday, we had planned to go to the Bluegrass Festival in the park in Benson. We had taken the dogs for a hike in the wash near where we're staying, messed around for a little while, and finally wandered into Benson in the early afternoon for the festival. When we got there, close to 1 p.m., we discovered that it ended at 4:45, admission was $12 apiece, and you had to bring your own lawn chairs if you didn't want to sit on the grass. Didn't seem worth it, so we left, stopped at the Benson Ice Cream Stop for hot fudge and banana shakes, and decided to take a Sunday drive to see some of the country instead. We drove down a little country road, through a town (smaller than St. David, which is pretty small) called Pomerene; we were headed toward the mountains when we saw a small sign in the middle of a cluster of mailboxes on a side road, pointing the way to something called Gammon's Gulch and a donkey rescue center. Intrigued, we turned in, and soon found ourselves at a parking lot to what looked like a set for Western movie. We were the only car in the lot, but got out to have a look, and were met by the owner and proprietor, James "Jay" Gammon. It WAS a Western movie set, lovingly built by Jay, and furnished with antiques from 1870 to the early 1930's that Jay has scrounged from all over Arizona or had donated. All the buildings are "real," not just fronts, and are mostly very old buildings that were ready to be torn down that Jay discovered, took apart, and reassembled here. Jay's father was chief of security for John Wayne in the 1960's, and Jay has been around the making of westerns all his life, as a set designer and a bit player. If you remember the John Wayne movie "Rio Bravo," the little Mexican boy leading the funeral procession and beating on a drum was Jay. Gammon's Gulch has been the setting for many movies, mostly independent student films, but also some for the History Channel and some Hollywood ones too. Jay has met and worked with many Hollywood actors and had an opinion about them all: Val Kilmer--"very hard to work with, full of himself;" Kurt Russell--"the worst. Thought he was better than everyone else;" Peter Coyote--"toilet mouth, but a really nice guy;" Sam Elliott--"great guy, really friendly and down-to-earth." Jay took us on a personal tour of all the buildings, talking a mile a minute about where everything came from, and obviously very proud of his little town. He even played us a tune on the honkey-tonk piano in the saloon as well as a number on the banjo. He and his wife live on site, in the Grand Hotel at the end of the street. The price for our personal tour? Seven dollars each, payable only after the tour was finished and only if we liked what we saw. We did both, and left smiling, promising to spread the word and bring our friends. The donkey rescue next door is only open for tours by appointment only, but we took the phone number and will save it for another visit.