ELSMORE — No one has more fun at Elsmore Rural-Town Days than Cheryl Wallis.
Gregarious and familiar with about everyone in town, Wallis keeps up a running commentary, microphone never out of her grasp.
She points out when old friends arrive, recognizes newcomers — one was from Australia Saturday — and as much as anyone personifies the event. Elsmore’s official population is 77 and if any weren’t there Saturday it was because they were ill or out of town.
The parade, featuring the Marmaton Valley High band, kids on bicycles, horses, floats and several Shrine units, stepped off precisely at 11 a.m. A dunk tank and impromptu petting zoo were available in a vacant lot. The community center had several booths where books, trinkets and crafts were offered.
Pulled pork was the noon fare for those not already filled with a hot dog, polish sausage or smooth-as-silk homemade ice cream, all offered throughout the morning of the Ruritan Club-sponsored festival.
In the afternoon, kids games were available in the shadow of eight big iron pots where ham and beans simmered. The beans were ladled out at suppertime — dinner comes at noon in rural communities — and most of the caldrons were emptied while patrons, between bites, checked their numbers in drawings for cash and prizes.
A golf tournament at the Erie course was Sunday.
WHILE MANY are local celebrities at Elsmore Day, one stood out Saturday and even signed autographs following the parade.
Chris Collins, who grew up in Chanute and came to visit Elsmore relatives, is in the midst of a run on the History Channel’s “Top Shot.” He is a firearms instructor in Tulsa, a vocation that came naturally enough after he served five years in the Marine Corps.
“I shot a lot with my brother and Dad when I was young,” said Collins, 26. He sought a spot on the TV reality show after “my former boss (at Tulsa Shooting Academy) was on one season. I’m competitive and told him I could do better.”
Collins was one of 20,000 applicants for the current season’s 16 contestants. He survived cuts into the top 30, which got him a trip to Los Angeles and eventual selection for the show.
Different weapons are used, such as rifles, shotguns, pistols, bows, knives, even tomahawks and rocks. Each week one of the 16 has been eliminated and when “Top Shot” airs at 9 p.m. Tuesday on Cox Cable’s channel 49, Collins and 11 others will compete.
The series already has been filmed, but Collins said he wasn’t permitted to say how he fared.
