What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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PHOTOS BY MATTHEW MURPHY " YOU'LL NEVER HAVE A BETTER TIME IN A THEATER. " NOV. 12-17 • 8 SHOWS THIS WEEK! Series Sponsor: Media Support FORBES 6 WHAT'S UP! NOVEMBER 10-16, 2019 Sharpshooters Continued From Page 5 SPRINGDALE a dozen Crossbowettes, including several of their queens, and amassed more than 300 photographs, an inch and a half deep pile of newspapers clippings and about two dozen artifacts. Among items donated or loaned to the museum were one of the original Crossbowette uniforms and a crossbow used in their trick-shooting demonstrations. Diane McKinney Johnson, a Crossbowette and later a crossbow tournament queen in 1964, explains that there were precision drills all the girls worked on, but during her time period, each girl had a special trick of her own. Hers was to use a mirror smaller than a postage stamp to see the target over her shoulder, aim and shoot at it. Others shot at balloons on a spinning wheel, shot the apple off the head of a wooden statue christened "William Tell's son" or tried to shoot through the flame of a candle to snuff it out. Doris Ann Coger Kisor, Arlis Coger's daughter, was queen in 1960 and remembers she and her fellow Crossbowettes played music by shooting at and ringing bells. Many of the Crossbowettes brought the museum pieces to put the puzzle together, but perhaps no one more than Patsy Laird Vaughan, who had collected portions of Stevens' collection of memorabilia when he died. She lived long enough to know the exhibit would come together, Demeroukas says, but she'll miss the reunion that all of the Crossbowettes wanted. It will happen from 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 15 at the museum, with a public portion of the program at 2 p.m. that will include a short program on the history of the tournament along with photos and films by Floyd Roberts. His daughter, Dorothy Roberts Dyer, made his collection available for the event. Kisor says she went off to college and never shot a crossbow again after her year as queen. In more recent years, Johnson brought down an 11-point buck with a crossbow — after she had beaten cancer and a spinal fusion. And the tournament? Like so many great ideas, it fizzled out. Competition moved to Withrow Springs State Park in 1966, Demeroukas says, and 1967 was the last year of the pageantry of the Crossbowettes and the Lancers, horseback riders who escorted the queen in her carriage. The final tournament was held in 2003. "Of all the projects I've worked on for the museum, this has been one of the best," says Demeroukas. "It's been a fabulous chance to examine in great detail one small aspect of a community. And everyone I've met has been just delightful!" NWA Democrat-Gazette/BECCA MARTIN-BROWN Doris Ann Coger Kisor of Fayetteville looks at a painting on exhibit at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale. She was the queen over the National Crossbow Tournament in 1960 and is depicted in the painting by George M. Stevens, who started the tournament. NWA Democrat-Gazette/BECCA MARTIN-BROWN Former Crossbowette Patsy Laird Vaughan helped bring together items for the exhibit remembering the Crossbowettes. She won't make it to the much-anticipated reunion, however. She died Oct. 15 at her home in Hindsville at the age of 76. NWA Democrat-Gazette/BECCA MARTIN-BROWN Diane McKinney Johnson was a member of the Crossbowettes for three years and reigned as queen over the National Crossbow Tournament in 1964. The uniform included in the Shiloh Museum mini-exhibit open now is like the one she would have worn while demonstrating trick shooting with a crossbow like the one pictured behind it.