Copperas Cove Historical Society holds annual Heritage Festival
By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove Historical Society welcomed the community to their annual Heritage Festival, a free, family-friendly event to showcase the city’s history at Ogletree Gap Park.
This year’s Heritage Festival was held Saturday with the opening ceremony at 9:30 a.m., and the final show starting at 4 p.m.
The event featured food and vendors, historical demonstrations, gun fights, local performers, and more.
John Gallen, President of the Copperas Cove Historical Society was excited that the schools are getting more involved with the Heritage Festival with volunteers participating such as ROTC who helped out and some of the school’s choirs who performed throughout the event. He was also grateful to their many sponsors who helped them to be able to hold the event for free. He appreciated their participation and said that they help make sure their festival will be successful each year.
“We’re trying to preserve the history of Copperas Cove and educate young individuals about how this town was founded, who founded it, and how it developed,” said Gallen. “Copperas Cove had an interesting start.”
At the old stagecoach stop and post office, Danny Corbett told people about the origins of our city. The area was purchased “from hill to hill” by Marsden Ogletree in 1878 who came from Georgia with his wife and six of his eight children who ranged in age from 11 to 28. Together they built the stagecoach stop which also served as their family home and a small store. Ogletree turned it into a post office in 1879 and wanted to name the area Cove, but another city had already claimed the name (what would later become Evant, Texas).
“In this valley here, there was a natural spring, and somebody tasted the water in the spring and it had a mineral taste. It tasted bad,” said Corbett. “Legend has it they said, ‘Egad! Copperas!’”
Thus, the city eventually became Copperas Cove.
In addition to learning about the city’s history, there were various historical craft making activities. Families could try their hand at blacksmithing, dying their own fabrics using traditional methods, making their own dolls out of corn husks, and more.
“I thought it was a lot of fun. There’s a lot to see. The Cavalry was really good,” said Kathy Davis who brought her 4-year-old, Lincoln Davis. “He loved the little town, and it’s the first time I’ve been in the old post office.”
For many, one of the most exciting activities was the demonstration by the 1st Cav Horse Detachment. Riding their horses, they performed demonstrations as they would have been done in the 1870s using guns and sabers to show their skills using balloons and fruit as stand-in targets. They showed various maneuvers, with the horses skillfully moving around each other.
“I’ve been having fun,” said Cybil Carpenter (12). She said that she enjoyed watching the shows and making a doll. She said that her favorite part was seeing the horses and watching the soldiers shoot the balloons.
Carpenter attended the event with her stepfather, Richard Beavers.
“We’ve been having a ton of fun seeing all the different crafts. It’s been a ton of fun learning about the history of it,” said Beavers. “The show with the cavalry was a lot of fun to watch. It was really cool watching the sword work and the gunplay. It was very interesting to see that done and see how it might have been done in the 1800s.”
The two also really enjoyed watching the Ole West Gunfighter’s gun show.
“I loved their sense of humor,” said Beavers about the show. “Every time I’ve seen them, they’ve been great. I loved watching them throw all the toy guns out the window.”
The Ole West Gunfighters performed three different shows throughout the Heritage Festival. The one that Beavers referred to involved Sheriff Surefoot Feller Dude cornering the Outhouse Boys—Hawk, Whiskey, Snake Bit 3-Fingered Morgan, and Rambler—inside the saloon. After he told them to hand over their weapons, they threw out an impressive array of obviously fake guns (and a plastic bat, banjo, and other silly items) before engaging in an exciting shoot-off with the Sheriff emerging victorious.
The group brings their own realistic looking Western town with them for their shows which allowed eventgoers to take fun pictures as well.
The Ole West Gunfighters use real guns, but they shoot blanks. The group shares ideas for their stories, but they do not have official scripts which also helps ensure that each show is unique. Sheriff Surefoot admitted that their version of history is more like the Blazing Saddles version of the Old West. They focus more on making sure everyone is having a good time than on being entirely historically accurate.
“We’re here to entertain and make people laugh and put a smile on people’s faces. Nowadays people don’t laugh and smile as much, and we’re trying to bring that back,” said Sheriff Surefoot. “We give these kids a lasting impression…and we have a good time doing it.”