The person you are referring to is Tony McCarty, and he was indeed a "fixture" outside the saloon for many years and one of my best friends. We used go fishing together quite a bit, or water skiing, and once we took a seven day trip up to Wyoming and Colorado for some fishing and sightseeing. Tragically, he was killed in a car accident a number of years ago. We were at the Saloon, preparing for the day's work when someone from management came down and delivered the news to us. Probably my worst day ever at Silver Dollar City. We canceled the first couple of shows and then, as he would have wanted us to, continued on with the day. I still miss him.
The Saloon girls are no longer in the practice of selling garters off of their legs, although garters are still available. It just got to be too dangerous for them, if you know what I mean.