The Tombstone Western Film Festival and Symposium founded in 2001 was held in July in

Tombstone, Arizona Tombstone is a historic city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1877 by prospector Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It became one of the last boomtowns in the American frontier. The town gr ...

, a historic western mining town (and later

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

) in the U.S. celebrated in

western film The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

s as the site of the legendary

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral The gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a thirty-second shootout between law enforcement officer, lawmen led by Virgil Earp and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cochise County Cowboys, Cowboys that occurred at about 3: ...

between

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp took part in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which l ...

and the Clantons and McLaurys. The program in the first year was devoted to retellings of tales from Tombstone, the second year to classic

TV Western Television westerns are a subgenre of the Western, a genre of film, fiction, drama, television programming, etc., in which stories are set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in the American Old West, Western Canada and Mexico during ...

. Organizers hoped the festival would allow the town to cash in on various film and TV depictions of events in the town's history. They invited actors such as

Hugh O'Brian Hugh O'Brian (born Hugh Charles Krampe; April 19, 1925 – September 5, 2016) was an American actor and humanitarian, best known for his starring roles in the ABC Western television series ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'' (1955–1 ...

and Harry Carey Jr. to the event. The 2002 also included book discussions and was funded by the city government rather than private funding. The 2003 event did not occur as the organizers participated in the Warren Earp Days festival in nearby Willcox instead. It was reported that the 2005 iteration of the festival would be its last, as the backers had failed to find funding to continue. A reunion of the cast of ''Little House on the Prairie'' also occurred at that year's event. Attendees included

Melissa Gilbert Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1963) is an American actress, television director, producer, politician, and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous co ...

and

Alison Arngrim Alison Margaret Arngrim (born January 18, 1962) is an American actress and author. Beginning her television career at the age of twelve, Arngrim is a Young Artist Award– Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award honoree, best known for he ...

References

Film festivals in Arizona Tourist attractions in Cochise County, Arizona Film festivals established in 2001 2005 disestablishments Events in Cochise County, Arizona {{US-film-festival-stub