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Tour guides for the Lucerne Valley Chamber of Commerce tour of the club's "Cowboy Town" were, from left, Jo "Little Jersey" Boyde, Ed "Smiley" Boyde, George Yablonsky and Jack "Five Jacks" Tompkins. Peter Day / The Leader
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By Peter Day
Senior Reporter
Last Friday's annual Chamber mixer had its share of networking, raffles and refreshments, but the event held at the Lions Club had so much more. Co-sponsored by the Lucerne Valley Chamber of Commerce and Lucerne Valley Lions, the event featured a tour of the club's shooting range and its Roy Rogers' inspired "Cowboy Town."
"This shooting range is our main source of income," said Lions Club President John Venard, "and it's something not many places like this have."
The facility has training classes, including a course devoted exclusively to women, and regularly hosts Boy Scout campouts and other fundraising and educational events. Roy Rogers, who lived in Apple Valley for several decades with his wife Dale Evans, would regularly visit the shooting range to shoot trap.
The tour portion of the evening was hosted by Lions George Yablonsky, and Jack "Five Jacks" Tompkins, who also is a member of the Single Action Shooting Society. SASS works to preserve and promote the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting.
Chamber members stepped back into the late 1800s during Tompkins' presentation of the quaint town, whose structures were built by Tompkins and other Lions volunteers. A painter, who had performed work for Knotts Berry Farm, painted the western lettering on store fronts. "Cowboy Town" is rented out by two shooting groups and is a focal point of the Lions' annual family-friendly High Desert Shooting Fun Fair.
Yablonsky, another devoted Lion whose volunteering helped build the shooting range from the ground up, took the guests around those areas. One range has bunkers and a trap machine.
"You may be shooting at a high bird, or you may be shooting at a rabbit," Yablonsky said.
For more information on the Lions Club or the shooting range call 760-248-7670. The Lucerne Valley Chamber of Commerce can be reached at 760-248-7215.
