Tall black socks, baseball caps, tight jeans, cargo shorts, embroidered hoodies, skate shoes and flip flops — the local kids in Tombstone are a stark comparison to the boots with spurs, trench coats, lace garters, leather chaps and cowboy hats donned by actors up and down Allen Street.

One hundred and twenty-eight years have come and gone since the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, but Tombstone’s lifeline clings to a rugged past that draws thousands of tourists and guns to the town every year.

Catering to tourism and revenue, Tombstone’s kids are left in the dust. In a world where grown men dress up and gunfights are daily, youngsters in the town are searching for their place in the modern-1880s.

In the “Town too tough to die”, residents take the popular slogan seriously. The median age of residents is 49.2 years old, almost 14 years above the national median age of 35.3 years old, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In 2000, when the national census was taken, the population in Tombstone was 2020, with the number of people over the age of 50-years-old accounting for just less than 50 percent of the total population. Adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 made up just over 12 percent of the town, according to the census.

Look down Allen Street and the two faces of Tombstone collide. Kids skateboard and ride bikes down the dirt-dusted street as horse-drawn carriages chauffer tourists on a historic tour of the old mining community.

Tyler Davis, 14, and Ryan Kern, 15, sat on the white wood railings of the gazebo at the city park, unenthused about the cowboys wandering around and the afternoon gunfight just behind the fence. Tyler’s sticker clad, BMX bike lies in the park’s dirt and patchy grass, “This is what we do,” he says looking around and shrugging his shoulders.

There isn’t much to do in any small town, “Especially in this one,” both boys said.

With no bowling alley, movie theatre, video arcade, concert hall or skate-park, young kids in Tombstone have to find their own means of entertainment — something that Tombstone Marshal Larry Talvy said concerns him.

“When they (kids) have nothing to do, they will take whatever advantage they can to commit crimes,” Talvy said. “Low profile crimes like smoking marijuana at a friends house can lead to other drugs and then we have a real problem.”

Town and school officials both make efforts to get kids involved in the community and in school programs through sports, clubs, employment or volunteering.

Juvenile programs that could be used to educate youth on the wrong choices they make have slowly been taken away.  Talvy said the loss could be devastating.

With a generational differences and a large outnumbering of elderly to young residents, Talvy said there are not enough individuals willing to get involved with kids either through coaching a team or starting a new organization.

“It is very difficult in Tombstone because we have the elderly and tourism,” Talvy said. “That’s all we are focused on. We have to take care of the elderly and we have to take care of our town to get the tourists here to spend money and prosper … and a lot of kids fall through the cracks in Tombstone.”

In an attempt to create activities for local youth the Tombstone City Council voted to re-establish the Recreation Board at the October 13 meeting, but over a month has passed and progress is yet to be made, said city secretary Laura Jones.

The city’s Recreation Board was first established in 1972 to create an effective recreational program for the citizens of and the visitors to Tombstone, and to provide for the children, teenagers and young adults, according to the city ordinance.

The board was re-established in hopes of raising money for a youth summer program, said Mayor Dusty Escapule in the meeting minutes. He stated there were citizens interested in assisting with the commission.

“Unfortunately there is not too much going on (in this town),” Talvy said. “The swimming pool opens during the summertime for about two months and that is not enough.”

With the board not fully activated, the youth in Tombstone have to find their own means of amusement.

“With youth parties alcohol seems to be a real big trend,” Talvy said, but not all kids get into trouble.

“They think they are invincible,” he said. “That is why we crack down on youth parties so hard these days … we understand being young, and we all did it when we were young.”