American Western Arts Showcase

20th Annual American Western Arts Showcase at Annie Oakley Festival

Darke County Fairground, Greenville, Ohio

Greenville, OH – Entrepreneur and professional whip artist Gery L. Deer and thrown weapons expert, Kirk Bass, of Xenia, will lead a full troupe of Wild West arts experts during the 2023 American Western Arts Showcase at the Annie Oakley Festival, July 28-29, 2023 at the Darke County Fairground in Greenville, Ohio. The event is free and open to the public.

Presented in the spirit of the stage-style Wild West shows of the late 19^th Century, each production will include some detailed history of how these arts came to be and who still practices them today. In addition to performing, Gery Deer is also the show’s producer and chief backer.

“This is a one-of-a-kind show in this region,” Deer says. “We have some of the best Wild West arts entertainment anywhere in the Midwest with real practitioners of each skill,” says Deer, who started the event in Jamestown, Ohio, in 2002. “These are talented performers with genuine ability, no fakery, no tricks. Everything you see in our show is real and all of our shows are in 3-D and high definition!”

Champion knife thrower Kirk Bass, of Xenia, Ohio, is co-producer of the event. He and his daring wife Melodee are among the performers to take the open-air stage for a series of western arts perform the suspenseful Bass Blades impalement show, and much more.

Whip marksmanship competitions headline the afternoon show beginning with the Whip Speed and Accuracy Exhibition Competition, the world’s first Bullwhip Fast Draw contest. Plus, there is a brand new contest taken straight from the big screen.

In the spirit of Dr. Jones’ proficiency, this year’s Showcase competition will include a special “blind fast draw,” where whip artists must mimic the move used in the film to turn, draw their holstered whip and shoot at a target with speed and accuracy. In 1981, a fedora-wearing, leather-clad archaeologist threw the crack heard around the world when he “whipped” a pistol from the hand of a jungle guide. At the beginning of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Indiana Jones demonstrated his skills with the holstered fast-draw of a 10-foot bullwhip, all while having to spin around to take aim first.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0ohlktSN-E]

“With the popularity of Indiana Jones among western performers, particularly whip artists, it’s odd this hasn’t been done before,” says Deer, who holds multiple, national whip speed and accuracy titles and is the director of The Whip Artistry Studio, the only permanent whip training facility in America.

The event is sponsored by GLD Enterprises Communications, Ltd., The Whip Artistry Studio and the Annie Oakley Festival Committee. All performances are family-friendly and presented on the grounds of the Annie Oakley Festival. For links to the festival and sneak previews of the performers plus more information go online to ohiowesternarts.org.

Production video from a few years ago showing some of the events

Whip cracking, trick roping, knife throwing exhibitions going on throughout the day as well as educational sessions to learn about the Wild West Arts and how these performers are working to keep them alive today.

FULL SCHEDULE

Friday:

• Space opens at 10 AM.
• Informal workshops, practice, and demonstrations throughout the day.

1:oo PM American Western Arts Showcase Performance

• Bass Blades Knife Impalement Show
• Gery L. Deer  – The Whip Artistry Studio Show
• Special Guests and More!

4:00 PM American Western Arts Showcase Performance

• Bass Blades Knife Impalement Show
• Gery L. Deer  – The Whip Artistry Studio Show
• Special Guests and More!

Saturday:

• Space opens at 10 AM.
• Informal workshops, practice, and demonstrations throughout the day.
• Contest Practice

12:00 PM American Western Arts Showcase – Whip Marksmanship Contests

WHIP CONTESTS

American Western Arts Showcase Whip Contests

The American Western Arts Showcase™(AWAS) is a production of The Whip Artistry Studio™ in Jamestown, Ohio, and has been held annually at the Annie Oakley Festival in Greenville, Ohio, since 2002. Although it is now primarily a performance-based event for audiences, the AWAS started out as the Ohio Regional Wild West Arts Club Convention, attracting participants from all over the States and several other countries. 

Most of the same competitions used in the national Wild West Arts Club convention were adapted for the event, along with some alterations and additions. The Showcase contests are as much, if not more, of a draw to the festival than any other attraction on the grounds because they give the public a first-hand look at the art and sport of whip handling.

Whip Speed and Accuracy

This contest is a variation of the speed and accuracy competition made popular at the Wild West Arts Club conventions of years past. For the AWAS, there are two versions of this contest, the Standard and the Speed Switch. Equipment and personnel are the same for each.

Equipment: 5 target stands, 6-feet in height, with vertically adjustable target holders. Each stand supports two targets positioned on opposite sides of the moving holder and held by small alligator or binder clips. The typical targets used are 12 oz. styrofoam drinking cups. Each stand’s adjustable target holder is set at a different height, from 3 feet to 5 feet up on the stand.

Personnel: One judge with a stopwatch for timing and 2 monitor judges.

Each contestant will use a 6-ft bullwhip or stockwhip (measured in this case to include the handle length for fairness). Monitor Judges make sure contestants follow the rules, remain behind the foot line, and review targets after each run to determine the result. Another duty is to ensure the whip actually cracks during each target attempt (otherwise contestants could just swat at the targets and knock them off the stands and win without any accuracy whatsoever).

Standard Version

The target stands are placed along a line parallel to each other and 3 feet apart measured from the front of the post. 

A line is painted or taped on the floor approximately 6 feet in front of and parallel to the stands. The contestants must not step over the line during their run. 

The stopwatch judge starts the clock on the contestant’s first throw/crack. 

Contestants step along the line and get two cracks at each target, attempting to “cut” them all, from left to right (or right to left, they can choose), without leaving any intact. A target cut is valid so long as any piece of it hits the ground. 

Each misfire (a target hit on the upswing or from an improper throw – i.e. around the post, etc.) or target left intact and on the holder adds 5 seconds to the contestant’s time. The clock stops when either there are no more targets left, or the contestant has used up the allowed number of cracks at each (10 total).

The contestant with the fastest time is the winner. 

Speed Switch Version

This version uses the same setup as the Standard Version. The execution of the contest is a bit different. Contestants are set up exactly as in the Standard Version. They have to keep behind the floor line, use the same size whip but in this contest, they will use both hands. 

Each contestant will start from either the left or right side of the target stand line, their choice, using that hand to hit targets only on that same side of the stand. When they reach the end, they switch hands, and go back up the target stand line, taking out the targets on that side only.. 

For example, Jack starts at the far left of the target stand line, with his left hand. Walking down the line, he is to cut only the left side targets. Upon reaching the end, he switches hands and makes his way back up the line, cutting the remaining right side targets with his right hand only. 

In addition to the penalties listed in the rules for the standard, one-handed, version, the contestant also accrues 5 seconds for every target hit with the incorrect hand to the side they’re working on at the time. The clock stops when either there are no more targets left, or the contestant has used up the allowed number of cracks at each (10 total). The contestant with the fastest time is the winner.

The Whip Artistry Studio Bullwhip Fast Draw Contest

This contest has been duplicated around the country but was created and first demonstrated in 2002, at an event in Dayton, Ohio, by whip handlers Gery Deer, Paul Nolan, and Chris Curtis. It was adapted as a full competition by Gery and whip cracker Rich Hoffman, in 2003 at the first Annie Oakley Festival exhibition.

While it can be modified to use whatever type of whip organizers choose to allow, this was intended primarily for bullwhips.

A target stand is positioned between two equidistant contestants ready with bullwhips of at least 6 feet in length (handle butt to fall hitch). Two judges are in place, one on each side to help confirm who managed to cut the target first. 

In this contest, contestants hold their bullwhips coiled at their side, facing the target. When the command is given to “draw,” contestants uncoil their whips, aim and shoot at the target. The whip must make a distinctive crack sound and whoever cut the target first is the winner. 

Indiana Jones-styled, Turning Fast Draw.

Developed by Gery Deer at The Whip Artistry Studio, this is a bullwhip-only fast-draw contest adapting movements seen in the first bullwhip sequence of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Contestants will use an 8-foot or longer bullwhip to face off against each other in an effort to recreate the dramatic first crack ever done on screen by Indiana Jones. 

Based on the opening whip scene in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark – Watch this clip from the 3-minute mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWLjtvbGuoo

As with the standard bullwhip fast draw, the target stand is positioned between two equidistant contestants ready with bullwhips of at least 6 feet in length (handle butt to fall hitch). There is one target, often a 12-ounce Styrofoam cup, and both will shoot at it. 

As in the film, contestants have their bullwhip coiled and held in a snap-closure whip holder on a belt. Two judges are in place, one on each side to help confirm who managed to cut the target first. When the command is given to “draw,” contestants spin around, unsnap their whip from the holder, aim and shoot at the target. The whip must make a distinctive crack sound and whoever cut the target first is the winner. 

Bonus Option: To make this contest more screen-accurate, use a (non-firing) prop single-action pistol with a working hammer that can be pulled back to rotate the cylinder (or some other device that makes a similar “clicking” sound). Use some kind of amplification system so the audience can hear the sound of the click as well and that becomes the “draw” command. Remember, in the movie, Indy heard the guide pull the hammer back on his gun before unsnapping his whip, spinning around 180 degrees, and cracking the gun out of the guy’s hand.