Longmire Fans Throng Autograph Sessions

DURANT, (aka BUFFALO) Wyo. — There haven’t been so many people so eager to see law enforcement officials since they gave out free bail at the jail.

“I got downtown at a quarter of seven, and they were lined up then,” Rachel McCaughey with the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce said Friday.

Hundreds of fans of the Longmire books and A&E television series of the same name lined the length of the outside of the Old Clear Creek Elementary School.

Once inside, they had another hour to wait in the halls then the gym as they plodded in a slow-moving line that snaked its way through a maze marked off with yellow crime scene tape.

Fans from across the U.S., Europe and across the Pacific clutched posters, books, T-shirts and other Longmire accoutrements for signing actors and Longmire book series author Craig Johnson.

They didn’t want just autographs, they wanted to talk.

The actors and author were glad to oblige, especially Robert Taylor who plays the down-to-earth top law enforcement official of Absaroka County, with its county seat being Durant, known in real life as Buffalo.

To get close to all that drama Friday morning, more than 400 Longmireites made it through the doors before event organizers had to turn away nearly as many more by 10:45 a.m.

The same thing happened Saturday, when the autograph session was held at Crazy Woman Park downtown.

“I feel bad for people from Wyoming who were turned away,” said Karen Duncan, an event volunteer who with her husband drove from Parachute, Colo.

Proportionally even more were turned away from other states including Florida, Ohio, Virginia, California, Colorado, New York, Montana and Mississippi, Duncan said.

What is this attraction?

“It’s more of a western-y cop show,” Duncan said.

Lisa Anson drove 380 miles from Miller, S.D., to spend a weekend with her sisters. Anson adores Deputy Victoria “Vic” Moretti, played by Battlestar Galactica veteran Katee Sackhoff.

“She doesn’t take any crap,” Anson said. “She’s tough.”

“She doesn’t need any validation,” interjected her sister Lexy Inghram. “As they develop her character you can see how she’s overcome adversity.”

Ward and Barb Brown rode their Goldwing motorcycle 1,400 miles from Sparta, Ill. They’ve enjoyed western movies for decades and dress up in period costumes for cowboy shoot-out shows.

“They’re all super characters, down to earth characters,” Barb Brown said.