Some fathers bond with their sons while fishing, watching the game or grilling streaks. For the Kimble clan, there is nothing like a wild west shootout to bring the three of them together.

Dr. Tim Kimble has been robbing banks, smashing beer bottles over the town drunk’s head and kicking up his period-correct spurs with his sons, Ryan, 25, and Marty, 23, for the last 20 years.

The boys began acting in the Old Town Temecula Gunfighters’ skits as early as age 5 and have been hooked on the scent of gun smoke ever since.

"It is so much fun to walk around dressed up as a cowboy and get shot in front of people, to give them a taste of the old west," said Ryan as he reclined in a whicker chair on the porch of the Olive Company’s storefront after a high noon bank robbery.

His tan leather jacket and slacks were still a bit dusty from his dramatic death on the corner of Main and Front Street. He and his father puffed cigars and reminisced as a Wells Fargo Stagecoach rolled by.

With the women in calico dress strolling down the wooden-plank sidewalk under the shade of their parasols and the guitar strumming from the Older Than Dirt bluegrass group in the background, it was easy to imagine this father-son team as their outlaw aliases.

The family was one cowboy short, since Marty, a recent Cal Sate San Marcos graduate, had a dorm room to clean out on this Western Days weekend.

"I grew up on ‘Gunsmoke,’ ‘Maverick’ and all that cowboy stuff. If I could have been the son from ‘The Rifleman,’ I could’ve died happy," said Tim, a chiropractor who goes by the handle Dynamite when in costume. "It’s just been a lot of fun and half the fun is sharing it with Doc [Marty] and Jim Masterson [Ryan]."

It hasn’t been all fun for the group of 45 re-enactors. They have meet opposition in the past due to their use of guns for entertainment. The group is no longer permitted to perform for western days in schools like they were able to when Tim first joined.

Ryan and Marty helped address community concerns by creating a gun safety skit, which is performed to inform audience members about the dangers of playing with real weapons. They do this public service every time they perform.

The Advertisement
group also has safety rules and training sessions to make sure that new members behave appropriately during the large gunfights.

In addition to performing on the fourth Sunday of each month in the dirt lot on 4th and Front in Old Town Temecula, the gunfighters travel to various competitions. They earn points for the historic accuracy of their costumes, the theatricality of their skits and their fighting stunts.

The Kimbles have also met and befriended people from around the world who have traveled to the valley to experience a piece of the west.

"We have pictures of us with people from France, from China, from Bosnia and from England who came here to see us do a little shootout," said Ryan as he nodded to the onlookers who were waiting for a picture or to talk with some of the gunfighters after the shootout.

Each of the Kimble men owns a few different period outfits that they have built up over the years, including sheriff blacks, chaps, trench coats and several pairs of boots.

"Ryan is really good at the stunts and where else do you pick up skills like that?" Tim said of his son, a student at Cal State Fullerton who participates in multiple theater projects.

Ryan particularly enjoys the improvisational nature of the gunfighters’ shows. He loves the skit where he falls face-first in front of a volunteer who is about to have a straw shot out of her mouth.

They both laughed as they recalled one volunteer who was so skittish that she peed her pants before they were able to finish the skit.

At the end of the interview, the Kimbles took final drags on their cigars, tipped their hats and headed down the street, adjusting their holsters for their second show.

As the gunfire cracked in the air, a crowd gathered on the sidewalk and spilled into the street. Parents lifted wide-eyed toddlers onto their shoulders for a better view. With every shot, people jumped and covered their ears.

They oohed with every kick and punch that appeared to hit home and gasped when the ladies pulled pistols from their petticoats in a surprising twist. When all the bad guys lay defeated, the audience applauded and whooped.

For the Kimbles, putting on a crowd-pleasing show is the biggest thrill of their shared hobby and being mistaken for real cowboys is always a plus.