Young women in long brown skirts fidgeted with their braids, as a crowd of people packed the stands at the Darke County Fairgrounds.
But only nearby horses dared to make a sound, as high school junior Alia Hunt aimed a BB gun at a red balloon.
Everyone held their breath and leaned in as Hunt took a wide stance. She placed a finger on the trigger. The balloon wavered in the wind. She squinted. Then the silence breaks with a sharp pop.
Her fringe went flying as she hit her mark. With that, the annual 2025 Miss Annie Oakley Sharpshooting Competition was underway.
Before she was a globe-trotting sharpshooter in skirts and fringe, Annie Oakley was just a kid with a rifle in rural Darke County, Ohio. Each year, her hometown of Greenville keeps her legacy locked and loaded through a friendly sharpshooting competition.
An old fashioned shootout
Hunt was one of 10 girls who competed in this year’s shootout. She said marksmanship is in her blood – Oakley is her great great great great aunt. But she still has to work on her aim to earn the title of “Miss Annie Oakley”.
“How good she was at shooting, it just makes me want to be better,” Hunt said. “We practice every day.”
Ahead of the contest, she was a little nervous. The stakes are always high: whoever is crowned the sharpest of the sharpshooters lays claim to the gold trophy that glitters in the sun and represents Greenville at parades and events over the year.
JoEllen Melling, Annie Oakley festival organizer, said it’s an honor unlike any other.
“When you see girls going to parades and you see the girls sitting in the back of the cars waving, and then you see ours, and she's carrying her gun,” Melling said with a laugh.
But, the competition isn’t just about marksmanship. Oakley started shooting as a way to put food on the table after her dad died. She wanted self-sufficiency in young women to be just as much a part of her legacy.
“I know she wanted them to be able to take care of themselves because that was one of the things that she did,” Melling said. “She learned how to shoot so she could help provide for her family.”
Becoming Annie Oakley
It didn’t take long for the young Annie Oakley to earn a reputation for accuracy. So, when marksman Frank Butler asked to shoot against one of Darke County’s best, local historian Brenda Arnett said Annie Oakley was the clear contender.
“[Butler] was shocked to find this petite little girl was supposed to be the one who shot against him,” Arnett said. “She beat him by one shot. He was done for, at that point. He was totally smitten with her.”
The pair travelled the world together, performing in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Oakley shot cigarettes out of her husband’s mouth, hit dimes in midair and even used a mirror to aim.
“By the time they went to Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887, she was the premier act of the show,” she said. “Anybody who was anybody came to Queen Victoria's Jubilee and they were all just enraptured by her and wanted to shoot against her or wanted her to do an exhibition shooting.”
Aiming high
Darke County’s competition pays homage to one of Oakley’s most popular tricks: splitting an Ace of Hearts. The balloon sits squarely in the center of a wooden playing card, before the young girls’ BB pellets send its red rubber flying.
After each hit, the competitors step a little further away. An assistant pumps the BB gun, they shoot and repeat the process with each contender. Until, a miss ricochets off the board and a girl is eliminated.
But, even at 75 feet away, six of this year’s sharpshooters were still spot on.
“These girls are really good competitors,” Melling said. “We've had them get 75, 80, 90 feet out.”
20-year old Lauren Wright competed for five years before finally becoming the last sharpshooter standing in last year’s competition. After claiming the title, she visited Annie Oakley’s grave and thanked her, a tradition among “Miss Annie Oakley” winners.
“She was a woman doing this a while ago. She had to be the first. Somebody has to, right?” Wright said.
For many of the competitors, Oakley’s perseverance is key. Although Hunt didn’t take home first prize this year, that’s not likely to deter her. This was her fourth year in the shootout and she still has a couple years left to compete.
Melling, the competition’s coordinator, said win or lose, all the competitors can take a lesson away: It’s not about hitting the target. It’s about aiming for the high mark.
“Learning what it takes. The stamina, just the drive that they want to keep doing it,” Melling said. “We’ve got girls coming back every year.”
