The latest issue of True West magazine came out recently with its 2024 choices for "Best of the West" and I swear either the fix is in and has been for years or the person who produces this slop has been asleep for quite awhile now. The choice that irked me the most was for "Best Old West Reenactment Group". The Prescott Regulators and their Shady Ladies, from Prescott, Arizona, was the choice and has been the choice for God knows how many times although there are plenty of other groups as good or far better. The write-up on the Regulators claims that among other things they "host the Annual Shootout on Whiskey Row" but they have not held that event since 2019. And in fact the group barely exists at all. That same year the group disintegrated into at least seven little groups because of endless in-fighting. Former members can be found in numerous other places but not Prescott. A group calling themselves the Prescott Regulators has resurfaced but it bears only a faint resemblance to the old group: it numbers at most a dozen members when the old group was more like 70. The True West staff needs to stop just reprinting the same material every year and actually get out there now and then. read more
