CAÑON CITY — It’s happy trails for Buckskin Joe, the replica Old West town in Colorado that served as a setting for Westerns such as “True Grit” and “White Buffalo.”
Owner Greg Tabuteau said Friday that he has sold the tourist attraction, near Cañon City, and that the new owner plans to dismantle it and move it elsewhere in Colorado. Tabuteau won’t disclose who that is and isn’t certain whether Buckskin Joe — named after an actual former mining town — will remain open to the public or just be used as a movie set in its new location.
The replica town, which entertains visitors with dramatized shootouts and hangings, will remain open through Sept. 12.
The town was designed in 1957 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer producer Malcolm F. Brown using real remnants of old Colorado mining towns.
Tabuteau said he sold it partly because the summer season is shorter with school starting earlier and because he doesn’t think the cash- strapped state has done enough to promote tourism. After 40 years of working during the busy travel season, he said the change is bittersweet for him: “I want to have a summer vacation.” The Associated Press
