The Old West Town was a dream Ned Fenton Jr. had for many years before the reality of the 1966 opening.  The Fenton children never asked what they would be doing for their summer vacations merely where the Old West Attraction that they knew they would be visiting would be located.  " I think we went to every single Old West Amusement in the United States and Canada" Jayne Fenton recalled. " Looking back," she said, " I don't think we truly appreciated what a brilliant showman and businessman our dad was until later in life."

 

Bill Frank, who did much of the actual construction work of the buildings recalled going on field trips with Ned Fenton Jr. to make sketches, diagrams and take photos of buildings which were then used to design the Village.  He remembers Ned sitting atop a bulldozer and pointing " I think we'll build the schoolhouse here, the playhouse there" he would say, and Bill would do just that.  The Incline Railway up the mountain was initially fraught with many difficulties. Jim Crosby recalled being asked to take over and revamp the entire system.  As this was a protoype of sorts for this type of transportation, every safety measure or mechanical innovation Jim and Lonnie Crosby made became the industry standard for the operation of such a system. 

 

The Village was open daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day and averaged around 1,000 visitors per day.  Verna Fenton ran the office and business end of the attraction.  All the participants wholehearedly agreed that they loved to see Verna at the Village, espceially on Friday afternoons when they knew she was delivering paychecks.

 

Employees often had more than one job.  A member of the pit band was also a gunslinger in the aftenoon gunfight  in the town square.  The Village sheriff would perform in the melodrama shows.  Jayne Fenton, can-can dancer, singer and actress in the variety shows remembered the grueling schedule of performances. " At the Red Garter Playhouse we did 5 shows per day 7 days per week and sometimes extra shows were added when crowds were espceially heavy," she recalled.  David Cooney played in the pit band and also performed a solo act in which he was billed as the "Biggest Little Banjo Player in the World! " as he was only 10 years old at the time.  He talked about how lucky he felt to have been a part of the magic of Fentier Village.  He added, with a twinkle in his eye, that he also very much enjoyed the opportunity of being able to observe the can-can girls at such close range.  His father, Art Cooney was also a member of the pit band.  Art told the audience about the time Hank Williams Jr., who was appearing at the Village, attended a show at the Red Garter Playhouse. Afterwards he invited Art and David to his dressing room; allowing Art to play his 5 string Paramount banjo, it was the first 5 string Art had ever played and he has since become a master at it.

 

Ned Fenton III wore many different hats in his dad's enterprise.  He was involved in everything from helping with the construction to putting up the giant pointing cowboy signs which told the traveler that it was only "2, 75, 300 miles etc....to Fentier Village".  One day he decided that he wanted to learn to fall off a roof like the stuntmen in the gunfights did, and the notorious outlaw Black Bart was born.  Ned related the story of a trip to Fantasy Island where he thought he was going to learn a few tricks from the stuntmen there.  " I watched those guys roll off a low porch roof into a wagon filled with foam and straw and I thought hey, I fall off a 2 story roof and consider myself lucky if I have an inch of gravel on the ground to land in "  Ned stated with wry humor.

 

Otis Patterson recalled that the most difficult celebrity appearance to secure at the Village was Lassie.  After signing a contract with Ned Fenton Jr. , a telegram arrived saying that Lassie would not be making the appearance in Salamanca.  The wire services picked up the story and the headlines across the country read" Lassie Reneges On Contract" "Needless to say" , Otis reported with a chuckle, " another telegram arrived very shortly after to say that Lassie would be appering after all".  Lassie became the bigest drawing celebrity to appear at the village with over 4,800 people making the trip up the hill to see her.

 

Keith Reed, mayor of Salamanca at the time, remembered performing marriage ceremonies in the church there.  Helen Quattrone, sketch artist, did drqwings of tourists on the boardwalk.  "Oh, the memories! " she said, "It  was such a wonderful time."  Steve Wallquist, Mike Zaprowski, Tom Mohr and Joe Quattrone also added stories of their time at Fentier Village.  Everyone spoke with bittersweet nostalgia about being forced to close after the 1969 season by New York State due to the planned construction of I-86. "Things were just beginning to come together and really click" Jayne said. " And then they didn't even start building for another 10 years" Ned added with a shake of his head.

 

The evening concluded with a short video of a gunfight and parts of the stage show at the Red Garter Playhouse which was narrated by Ned Fenton III.  The event was videotaped by member John Wymer of John Wymer Phtography and wil be used as the basis of a DVD on Fentier Village which will be available for purchase in the museum's gift shop later in the fall.

 

Standing (L-R): Jimmy Crosby, David Cooney, Keith Reed, Ned Fenton III, Otis Patterson, Tom Mohr, Steve Wallquist, Unknown Fentier Village Outlaw