Images of cowboys and gunslingers still resonate with the public, long after the Old West came to an end.
Tourism professionals for Wichita, Dodge City, Abilene and Hays announced an effort last week seeking to capitalize on that.
They said they were launching the “Gunsmoke Trail” to encourage tourists to take a road trip through those four cities, each of which was mentioned on the long-running, Emmy Award-winning TV western series “‘Gunsmoke.”
What was ‘Gunsmoke?’
Set in the 1870s in Dodge City, “Gunsmoke” aired for 20 seasons, from 1955 to 1975, on CBS-TV.
It focuses on Marshal Matt Dillon, played by James Arness, as he works to preserve law and order in the Old West.
“Gunsmoke” was the longest running prime-time live-action series on American TV until its record was broken in 2019 by “Law & Order: SVU.” It can be streamed on Paramount+.
“Gunsmoke” featured “iconic characters telling the story of frontier life in the Old West,” said a news release put out last week by Visit Wichita, which is teaming up to offer the trail with the convention and visitors bureaus of Abilene, Dodge City and Hays.
Trail provides opportunity to ‘showcase our cowboy heritage’
The opening of the Gunsmoke Trail provides an opportunity for Wichita residents to “showcase our cowboy heritage,” said Brandy Evans, vice president of marketing for Visit Wichita.
The trail’s attractions in that city take visitors “back in time,” she said.
Melissa Dixon, executive director of the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the collaboration between those involved with the trail is a “a win-win for all of our communities.”
Why does the Old West still resonate with people today?
One reason the American frontier still resonates with tourists is because people remain interested in the conflicts of “good vs. evil” and “man vs. nature,” which played out again and again in the Old West, said Deb Goodrich, formerly of Topeka. Goodrich is Garvey Texas Foundation historian-in-residence at Fort Wallace in western Kansas.
Images of Old West inhabitants — such as the cowboy, the lawman, the gunslinger, the saloon girl, the pioneer and the Native American — stick with people because they are powerful, vivid and easy to grasp, Goodrich added.
Such images remain very much a part of this country’s cultural identity, she said.
Many Europeans consider the cowboy to be the “symbol of America,” though cowboys actually make up a relatively small percentage of the people here, Goodrich said.
Goodrich and the Garvey Texas Foundation aren’t involved with the Gunsmoke Trail.
How can I access the trail and what will it offer?
The Gunsmoke Trail is easily accessible through a mobile “passport” program, which allows smartphone users to check in at different stops, earning points for prizes, Visit Wichita’s news release said.
The passport functions like a mobile app but requires no app download, it said.
The release said Wild West-themed attractions to which visitors will be directed include the following:
• In Wichita, Old Cowtown Museum, Wichita-Sedgwick Country Historical Museum, Old Town Wichita, the Keeper of the Plains, the Chisholm Trail, the Mid-America All-Indian Museum and Historic Delano District.
• In Abilene, Hitching Post Restaurant and Saloon and the World’s Largest Belt Buckle.
• In Hays, the Historic walking Tour on the Bricks in downtown Hays, where bronze plaques mark the sites of the first shops, saloons and shootout.
• In Dodge City, Boot Hill Museum, the Santa Fe Depot and the Dodge City Trail of Fame.
As reported in the Topeka Capital Journal
