Bill Miner is back

Photo: Caravan Farm Theatre

He's the province's most famous train robber, and he's back.

Bill Miner and his outlaw cohorts will be riding into the Caravan Farm Theatre for the fourth annual Hands Up! Fundraiser and Auction June 1.

Known as the Gentleman Bandit, Miner and two other masked bandits attempted to rob the mail car on a Canadian Pacific Railway train travelling between Kamloops and Monte Lake.

Their haul was about $15 in today's money, but that day, a legend was born.

“Our event starts with a bang. We have a posse of outlaws, played by some of our well-known local and visiting theatre actors from the Coast, who will be done up in chaps and the iconic red bandannas over their faces. There will be an outlaw chase involving horse riders and Bill Miner on the lam,” said Estelle Shook, Caravan’s artistic director.

“This is our one main fundraising event of the year. People can expect a romantic, western-style evening. We go for all the archetypes and work in the mystique around Bill Miner’s legacy. He was said to be like a Robin Hood figure, a gentleman bandit who took the monolithic CPR head on. He was also said to share with the less fortunate,” adds Shook.

While the outlaws will serve as spotters, Armstrong’s champion auctioneer, Don Raffan, will be back to lead the live auction.

“We have a beautiful array of auction items that are a good representation of what businesses in the region have to offer,” said Shook.

All proceeds from Hands Up! go towards Caravan’s summer, fall and winter productions. This summer, the farm is presenting Peter Anderson’s The Coyotes, July 16 to Aug. 11.

Music starts at 6 p.m., with the auction beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Ticket and event information can be found online.

Caravan Farm Theatre is located at 4446 Salmon River Rd., 11 kilometres northwest of Armstrong.