Cities IG - 3-2-24

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Next up this Saturday morning, Knowledgeis Power, hosted by Rob Kane of
Citi's Insurance Group. If you havea question for Rob and would like it
answered on an upcoming show, emailhim at r Kane at citiesig dot com
and now Rob Kan Hi, everyone, and welcome to Living in Leclair,
a segment of Knowledge's Power made possibleby the generosity of Rob Kane in City's

(00:24):
Insurance Group. I'm Wayne Wally andI'm currently a volunteer member of the Leclair
Tourism Board serving as Tourism Board President. Living in Leclair is about well living
in Maclaire, and in this segment, we're going to be talking about Leclair
native son in the namesake of theBuffalo Bill Museum. That's right, Buffalo
Bill Cody. Rita Farrow, whois now the executive director of the Buffalo

(00:46):
Bill Museum, went to a showin Manitowac, Wisconsin, and has spent
the last year working on a planto bring this wild West spectacle right here
in Leclair. It's going to behappening Saturday, June twenty ninth, sound
June thirtieth, you will have theBuffalo Bill Wild West Show at Cody Elementary
on Territory Road. Now this includesa whole encampment. You will have reenactors

(01:11):
there who can discuss what they knowand can tell you more about the wild
West and what it was like inthose times when Buffalo Bill was touring the
United States and Europe in the lateeighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds. Then
there is a show that happens inthe early afternoon, probably about twelve thirty
or so, where there's trick writing, there's trick shooting, there's all sorts

(01:34):
of things going on. It's apretty amazing show where much of it is
based on the type of performances thatBuffalo Bill Cody was doing back in the
nineteenth century and early twentieth century.So when we return, we'll be speaking
with Wayne Reddick of the Buffalo BillBest of wild West, the group that
puts on the Buffalo Bill wild WestShow. Signing Up for Medicare doesn't have

(01:59):
to be complicated. With well Marked, Blue Cross and Blue Shield. You
can get all of your health insuranceneeds in one place. Wellmark offers hassel
free Medicare supplement plans, option,dental coverage in more. Call Rob Kin
with Cities Insurance Group in the Clareat five six, three, three,
five, nine, zero, eightfive four to choose coverage that nine and
ten stay with year after year.Rob Kin, your local health insurance expert,

(02:22):
is available to answer all of yourquestions. Call today. Rob Kin
is a local authorized independent agent forwell Marked, Blue Cross and Blue Shield
of Iowa. To be eligible,you must reside in the service area of
the plan. Well Marked Medicare Supplementinsurance plans are not affiliated with any government
agency. Hi everyone, and welcomeback to Living in Maclare today, where

(02:43):
our guest is Wayne Reddick. He'sthe hit of Buffalo Bill's Best of wild
West, which is bringing its BuffaloBill Wild West Show to Leclair June twenty
ninth and June thirtieth this year.It's quite the spectacle. We're looking forward
to seeing it up at Cody ElementarySchool. Wayne. Welcome to the show
and thank you for doing this.And my first question is going to be

(03:04):
what is the Buffalo Bill Wild WestShow and how and why you're bringing this
to Leclaire this year. Well,I'll start with the back end first.
The reason why we're coming to Leclairis because this is the town where Buffalo
Bill was born and started it all. And the other reason why we're in
the area is a lot of peoplealways ask us what are you doing our

(03:27):
groups out of Wisconsin primarily, andthey'll ask, what are you doing here?
Shouldn't you be doing this in Cody, Wyoming, And it's like,
what people don't realize is Buffalo Billmade his living traveling the country and the
world presenting this image of the WildWest to the rest of the world.
So there was a big thirst forit back east. So basically anywhere there

(03:52):
was a railroad line, that's wherethe Buffalo Bill's Wild West went and the
event itself. We're there for thefull weekend, so we have anywhere from
sixty to one hundred reenactors, allin period correct gear, and we have

(04:14):
a camp that we're all there ina canvas boomtown. We live there,
we cook there. When we bringthis time around, we're probably going to
have thirty plus horses, a gatlinggun, a canon, you name it.
We try and put on as closeto the original Wild West performances as
we can, and we even pulla lot of the acts that we do

(04:38):
directly off of the old playbills fromthe original touring group. Oh Wow,
you know, because yeah, backthen when he was doing this show,
it's not like everybody had a cameraand a videotape in their phone where you'd
find these things on YouTube and cannow look at it and reenact. You've
had to do quite a lot ofresearch to create this show. I assume
there is that, but it's alsoI was gonna comment and say, Buffalo

(05:02):
Bill was one of the first movingpicture stars with Edison's camera, and Annie
Oakley was one of the other ones. So Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill were
some of his original moving picture subjects. Ah, so you have found footage
to take a look at what hedid and how he did it, so
you can re enact that to someextent. Well, well, what can

(05:26):
those people that will attend. Obviouslyyou're doing two shows. One on the
Saturday, you'll be at Cody ElementarySchool on Territorial Road. I believe the
grounds you're planning to open at liketen thirty, be there until four.
In the actual show itself will takeplace around twelve thirty in the afternoon,
both on the Saturday and on theSunday. But what can people expect to

(05:47):
attend when they attend this, Well, they see in camp. There will
be food vendors. There will beperiod correct food from the time, so
you can be eating fry bread,buffalo jerky. We'll have pretty much.
Any camp you stop at can giveyou a twenty minute dissertation on their portion

(06:11):
of the wild West. Personally,when we're there, my wife and I
we get our choice of the besttent in camp, so we stay in
a teepee. So there's teepee tours, see the horses, see the legends
from the wild West, and sothere's things to see and do all day
long in camp. We even havefor the kids there's an Antioakley Shooting gallery

(06:38):
where on root beer bottles there's pingpong balls sitting on top and they get
rubber band pistols and rifles to shootat the ping pong balls and see if
they win a prize or not.Oh what fun. That sounds like a
great experience for people to come outto that. There will be an ad
mission charge to it, so peoplewill be prepared to that. But it
sounds like it's going to be worthmuch more than the mission would shift.

(07:00):
I remember, right, is fifteendollars per adult, twelve dollars of your
senior and eight dollars for kids twelveand under. But it should be a
fantastic time out of Cody Elementary.Now, this is as you say,
it's a big show. You've gotwhat is it, seventy eighty people showing
up with all different roles. Youhave more than thirty horses, you have

(07:20):
trick riding, trick shooting, allthese things going on. But what does
it take to pull off a showlike this? As we've talked before,
as I understanding, we've got Yeah, you've got a huge checklist, and
these are things that you're all bringingto Leclair to get set up. So
I assume there's a lot of stuffin storage somewhere that you got to actually

(07:41):
haul down here to make this happen. Well, each of us bring our
own gear, our own lodging.But then in addition to that, we
do have what we need to setup the arena, and we have life
sized banners that decorate one end ofthe arena. So they're like ten foot
by ten foot banners that look asclose to the original Buffalo bill banners as

(08:03):
we can do. So you'll haveyours truly at one end. You'll have
Anti Oakley at the other end.And a nice big sign that says Buffalo
Bill's wild West in the middle.Oh wow. So it makes for a
good photo backdrop for people when they'reseeing us come charging into the arena on
horseback and performing all of the shootingdemos in the arena. Yeah, as

(08:26):
you said, there are shooting demonstrationsand a lot of work with horses.
There are lots of trick writing thingsgoing on. But how do you maintain
the safety of everything. When wetalked briefly before, you talked about how
there's safety involved, and there arethree things that are on your list,
and that's to maintain the safety ofthe horses, maintain the safety of your
crew, maintain the safety of theaudience. How do you do that?

(08:50):
Well, first of all, wemake sure where we have our field of
fire that that is a clear zonethat's facing towards nothing, so there's no
public allowed anywhere over near where downrange is going to be. We use
blank ammunition and you'll be amazed whatwe can manage to do with that.

(09:15):
And then we have a fenced inarena to separate it from the public,
and we have a kind of asafe distance zone outside the arena, so
there are rules of engagement for thedistance that a blank will travel and still
be you know, have an effectiverange on it. So we make sure

(09:35):
the public is well back of thatand basically have instructions so at no time
are we shooting anywhere near or towardsthe public. Very good. Well,
now, how many of these showsdo you do a year? And where
do you usually perform? As yousay, Buffalo Bill would get on these
trains and go everywhere that a traincould go to bring the Wild West to

(09:58):
where it isn't so to speak.So what is it about your wild West
show? As I say, like, where do you usually perform? And
how many of these do you do? Well? The group was started years
ago and performed throughout Wisconsin, andthe former Buffalo Bill that got it all
going, he got to the pointwhere he just kind of come to the

(10:22):
end and he decided it was timeto move on. So he basically said
to me, he goes, I'vewanted you to be Buffalo Bill, and
if you don't take it over,it's done. So I looked at my
wife and I said, I guessI'm Buffalo Bill. Because we had been
with the show for about four years. As various acts within it and since

(10:43):
we took that role on, I'vebeen doing it for the last This will
be our eleventh year running it andbeing Buffalo Bill. Wow. Fantastic.
Well, Wayne, We're going totake a short break and then we'll be
back to talk more with Wayne Reddiganabout the Buffalo Bill wile Less Show coming
to Leclair at Cody Elementary on Saturday, June twenty ninth and Sunday, June

(11:05):
thirtieth. Hi, this is RobKane, and I just want to remind
you it's all there in Leclair.You guessed it. Cody Road and the
Cody Road Historic District honors the namesakeof the iconic William Buffalo Bill Cody,
an American soldier, bison hunter,and showmen with national notoriety today. Over
sixty structures create the Historic District inLeclaire, Iowa, a nine block stretch

(11:26):
of US sixty seven reaching all throughoutour rivertown. Both picturesque views of the
Mighty Mississippi River, This district containsboth residential and commercial structures filled with some
of the best eateries, boutiques,gift shops, museums, and historical sites
found in Leclare, Iowa. Onyour visit. You'll find a healthy mix
of old timey appeal in the rusticdowntown buildings and modern dwellings with glass fronts

(11:50):
and large parking lots for visitors.So yes, there's a little something for
everyone. That's right. It's allthere in Leclair. We can't wait to
see you. Hi everyone, andwelcome back again to living in Leclair,
where our guest is Wayne Reddick,the head of the Buffalo Bills Best of
wild West that's bringing the Buffalo BillWild West Show to Leclaire on June twenty

(12:11):
ninth and thirtieth at Cody Elementary.Before we took a break when we were
talking about what the show is,what people can expect, and all that
sort of thing. But you know, this is twenty twenty four. Buffalo
Bill started doing his Wild West showin Nebraska in eighteen eighty three. As
I understand it, he even touredEurope between eighteen eighty two and eighteen ninety

(12:33):
two and again from nineteen oh twoto nineteen oh six. Is you're so
based on what he did, whatare the comparisons of somebody's looking at it
from a historical perspective, Well,we pull from any of the eras that
the Wild West was performing. Sowe don't necessarily lock into a given year,

(12:54):
but we go through and look atall the different acts that appeared over
time and incorporate the best we canof everything to just put together something that's
good family entertainment for the people oftoday. Okay, well, let's talk
about you now here you are.You're portraying Buffalo Billy. You said that

(13:18):
you weren't the first that this showstarted beforehand? Could you talk a little
bit about that and how you assomeone that has a journalism and advertising degree
and you've had a career and continueto work in marketing communications, how do
you get involved in a Wild Westshow? Well, first, you have
a deep love of history and especiallythe history of the West. Ever since

(13:41):
I was very young, I hadjust a fascination with the Native American cultures
of the plains and became a bigfan. Ever since I was out there
with the family touring the Black Hillsand the Rockies and just fell in love
and to me that I just feellike that's home. And so from probably

(14:05):
my early twenties to whatever I amnow, I've been doing historical reenacting,
and so I've been living out ofa tepee for thirty plus years every chance
I get, and that's where Imet my wife is at historical reenactment and

(14:26):
she had horses at the time,and that was the one thing that was
always missing from that era that Ireenacted was when you get to be at
a camp where there are horses andyou feel the thundering of the hoots going
by, and you hear the horseswinning back and forth across camp. Those
are the events that it's like now, it feels like the real deal.

(14:48):
So we had done that for along time, but then we got involved
with cowboy mounted shooting and the personthat taught us how to do the boy
mounted shooting he saw a show upin all the right gear from the get
go, and he said, youguys really need to come to the Wild

(15:09):
West and perform in it. SoI think I had shot off my horse
once and my wife had yet toshoot off of hers, and next thing
you know, we're in the WildWest competing against each other shooting off a
horseback and we've been in the showever since. Oh gosh. So it's

(15:33):
something that was I guess an advocationor hobby and interest that you've now turned
into Obviously it's not your main jobstill, but it has become probably I
don't want to say all consuming,but a big part of your life.
It was pretty consuming. Yeah,oh gosh, well, you know it's
it also seems that the two ofyou have become become quite the experts on

(15:56):
Buffalo Bill, his life, histimes. What is it like portraying Buffalo
Bill? How do you get inthe mindset of being Buffalo Bill for one
of these shows? Well, Iwill say somebody that I worked with for
a lot of years he was catchingup with me and he said, well,
I've read some about Buffalo Bill,but you know, people say he

(16:18):
was all ego and just a showman, And what kind of a guy was
he really with all the research you'vedone. And I thought that was actually
an excellent question. And I thoughtabout it long and hard before I gave
him an answer, and I said, he was really a product of his
times because he lived the life thatthe arc of his life follows the arc

(16:45):
of the Western Frontier so closely,from the early scouting days to he ran.
He was a teamster, running wagontrains back and forth across the country,
was a scout for the army,the buffalo hunting that was mainly working
for the railroad and the army,providing meat for large groups of people,

(17:10):
and so he encountered all aspects ofthat lifestyle and worked a lot of cattle.
He had a cattle ranch in NorthPlatte, Nebraska, and it was
really one year he decided to havea party for the fourth of July in
the is the eighteen eighty three blowoutis what they called it. But he

(17:33):
invited a thousand cowboys from all acrossthe West to come out for a long,
big party out at his place.And they did roping, they did
riding, they did shooting, theydid bronc busting, they did everything he
could think of that cowboys did.And it was such a big hit that
it made him rethink the theater showsthat Buffalo Bill had been doing across the

(17:56):
country, which were a big hit, and he thought, this is what's
missing. I need to bring thelivestock, the horses, the buffalo,
the action of the West and bringit to the rest of the world.
And the other thing that he broughtwith it. He'd grown up around the
Kickapoo and the Pawnee, and soI was a little kid and he was

(18:19):
out riding with their little kids andjust developed a real love for riding and
respect for them. And he sawthat you really can't tell the story of
the West without incorporating the Native Americans. So they were a huge part of
what he wanted to do. Andso he went from being early on in

(18:41):
his career being a scout following andpursuing the Native Americans for the army,
to he ended up being an advocatefor him that not only did he treat
them as human beings, but hetreated them as equals because he gave them
the same equal pay that he gaveany other performer in the outfit. So,

(19:07):
and I refer to it because hebrought the best writers from around the
world. So you had Cossacks,you had Gauchos, you had you know,
all nationalities all around the globe.And to me, Buffalo Bill's Wild
West was the original version of theUnited Nations because what it showed was if

(19:29):
you look at the photos back thenwhen they had the huge tenth feeding fifteen
hundred performers at one time, yousee all these different races, nationalities,
creeds, colors. They're all sittingaround laughing, having a great time because
they all shared something in common,and that was the horse. And there
are pictures. Some of my favoritephotos are the ones that showed these people

(19:55):
really out of their element. There'sa classic one when they toured Europe.
You've got a gondola ride in Venice. Buffalo Bill is sitting in the gondola
with about six Native Americans with alltheir headdresses as they're being shuttled down the
canals in Venice. There's another pictureof just life at camp when the show

(20:18):
wasn't going on, and you've gottwo Native Americans with all their regalia,
full headdresses. They're actually playing pingpong at a ping pong table out behind
the camp, and you see notonly all the cowboys in the back laughing
and cheering them on, but thetwo Native Americans playing are just laughing and

(20:40):
have the biggest grins on their faces, and you realize the humanity involved in
that whole group just coming together.It's just something special to see. And
now this show that you're bringing,as you say, there are a lot
of different reenactors, I don't thinkit'll be quite as diverse as the United
Nations as Buffalo Bill Cody might haveoriginally, but you do have different groups.
So you talked about a cavalry thatmight be joining you, will other

(21:04):
different groups? Will I have acavalry unit, should be a drill team
here for a lot of precision riding. You've got cowboys. And the other
thing is cowgirls. They were ahuge draw at the wild West because people
could not get over that the ladiescould do everything the cowboys could do,

(21:26):
and a lot of times they weredoing better because Lulu par which will be
there. She was one of BuffaloBill's favorite performers and she could ride buffalo,
so they'd have her saddle up andriding a buffalo. But she was
a top rider and shooter, andyou'll get to see some of those skills

(21:52):
going on at the event. Wasthe buffalo? Yeah, I was going
to say, I'm assuming you're not. We're not going to see somebody riding
a buffalo here in Leclair, butyou never know, maybe someday or we're
going to take another break and thenwe'll be back talking with Wayne Redding about
the Buffalo Bill Well West Show comingto Claire on June twenty ninth and thirtieth.

(22:12):
Hi, this is Rob Kaine,and I just want to remind you
it's all there in Leclair. It'sbeen over a decade strong for one of
television's most popular history loving partnerships.American Pickers may be the hit show on
the History Channel, but antique archaeologyholds a special place in the hearts of
Leclair locals, including show host MikeWolfe. For him, the most beautiful

(22:34):
aspects of picking are usually the leastattractive. We're talking dirty fingernails, rust
covered metal, and even those toughnegotiations with strong willed owners and collectors.
All these bits and pieces work togetherto create this everlasting story of how closely
tied are present is to history's past. That's right, it's all there in

(22:55):
Leclair. We can't wait to seeyou. Hey everyone, and welcome back
to Living in Leclair, where we'respeaking with Wayne Reddick, the head of
the Buffalo Bill's Best of wild West. That's bringing the Buffalo Bill wild West
Show right here to Leclair at CodyElementary School Saturday, June twenty ninth Sunday
June thirtieth. You'll want to bethere. It sounds like it's going to
be a fantastic spectacle. But let'stalk about the group that you bring and

(23:22):
oh gosh, I'm gonna have toskip that. Hi everyone, and welcome
back to Living in Leclair, whereour guest is Wayne Reddick. He's the
head of Buffalo Bill's Best of wildWest that's bringing the Buffalo Bill wild West
show right here to Leclair. There'llbe at Cody Elementary School on Saturday,
June twenty ninth and Sunday June thirtieth, Wayne, if you could talk a
little bit about how you've learned somuch about Buffalo Bill. I mean,

(23:45):
I assume you've been to Cody,Wyoming, You've kind of traced his life,
and I'm sure at some point that'sbrought you to Leclair before. Well,
I'll start with some of the researchand travels, and yes, been
to the museum and Cody several times, and including some early research that if
you ever look at the bronze statueout in front of the museum, turns

(24:08):
out that statue has so much detailto it that you can actually see the
beadwork patterns in the bronze. SoI took close up pictures all the way
around that coat and the coat you'regoing to see me wearing in the performances.
It's an actual brain tan leather coatthat my stepfather in law put together.

(24:32):
The coat, my wife did thefringe on it to put it together
in the pockets, and then allof the beadwork on the coat I did
by hand based on the pattern thatwas on the statue at the museum.
So it's as close as to theoriginal as I can get you for now
sother than as far as Leclaire.We made it out here last year and

(24:56):
I was just so impressed by theamount of detail information they had on exactly
the things I wanted to know moreabout, like all of the horses that
he had. Some of my favoritestories are, yes, Buffalo Bill was
a good shot. Yes, everybodyknows Lucretia Borgia, the rifle that he
had that was a great gun.But I actually liked to give most of

(25:21):
the credit to my horse because hewas the best buffalo hunting horse I've ever
seen in my life. And itwas how he operated that enabled Buffalo Bill
to do so well that that horsecould charge into a herd of buffalo,
cut off a section of the herd, basically drive them in a circle.

(25:42):
So it just became a shooting galleryfor me, and that horse would allow
me to ride up alongside, andif I didn't drop a buffalo on the
first shot, he gave me onemore chance and I'd take a second shot,
and if that buffalo didn't drop,he'd look over his shoulder at me

(26:03):
and disgust and move on to thenext buffalo. So he's like, you
had your two, let's go tothe next one. So that's how I
was able to be so successful huntingbuffalo is because of that horse. But
the museum in Leclair had so muchdetail. I just loved it so much,
and kind of a bucket list itemwas always to be able to perform

(26:26):
what we'd do in an area thatwas historically significant to the wild West itself.
Now most of our group is outof the Wisconsin area and we try
and perform in communities where the showactually toured, so and we'll find original

(26:48):
articles from the time when he wasthere. So that's again more of the
research we do along the way.But just with all the ties here,
getting to see the homestead, thefact that the school where we're going to
perform Kitty Corner is the boulder inthe plaque that is literally the birthplace of

(27:08):
Buffalo Bill. So we're going tobe about as close as we can be
to the starting point to kind ofput the icing on the cake here with
this one. Well, very good, well, Wayne, thank you for
joining us for this show. We'regoing to keep talking with Wayne, and
we're going to have another show that'llbe Living in the Clare coming up in
the future, So stay tuned andwe'll be back later. When it comes

(27:32):
to choosing a Medicare plan, Blueis Affordable, Blue is Convenient, Blue
is Staying Healthy. Blue is aMedicare advantage plan from well Marke Advantage Health
Plan. Need help finding the rightplan, call Rob kin with Cities Insurance
Group in Leclaire at five six threethree five nine zero eight five four.
Rob Kain is a local authorized independentagent for well Marke Advantage Health Plan.

(27:53):
To be eligible, you must residein the service area of the plan well
Marke Advantage Health Plan in because anindependent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue
Shield Association. Hi, everyone inwelcome back. I want to thank you
for listening today. I also wantto thank our guests Wayne Reddick for taking
the time to talk to us abouthis portrayal of Buffalo Bill Cody and the

(28:14):
Big Buffalo Bill wild West show thathe and his group are bringing to Leclair
on Saturday, June twenty ninth inSunday June thirtieth. It should be quite
the show, something you will notwant to miss, so make sure you
mark your calendar now and be apart of this event that's coming to Leclair
this summer. Again, I'm WayneWally and this is Living in Leclair.
Thank you for listening to this week'sedition of Knowledge is Power with your host

(28:38):
Rob Kine. If you have aquestion for Rob and would like it answered
on an upcoming show, email himat r Kane at citiesig dot com.
Please tune in again next Saturday morning.