‘Modern Family’ Arrives In Jackson; New ‘Lily’ Joins Cast

The city of Jackson is playing host to Hollywood this week.

The entire cast and crew of ABC’s hit show “Modern Family” arrived on Monday morning to shoot their season three premiere, and they received a very warm Wyoming welcome at the airport.

Led by Rico Rodriguez, a.k.a. “Manny,” the cast of ABC’s ‘Modern Family’ stepped out of a chartered plane at Jackson Hole airport on Monday afternoon and into the wild wild West.

“We just landed, and I can’t believe the scenery here,” said Rodriguez. “It’s awesome!”

“We were looking through the windows on the plane,” said Ariel Winter, who plays Alex Dunphy. “It was just incredible.”

One by one came familiar faces of the show that’s captured the hearts of more than 12 million viewers: Sofia Vergara, Ty Burrell, Julie Bowen, Ed O’Neill, Eric Stonestreet, Jesse Tyler Fergusen, and Sarah Hyland. They were all greeted by Mayor Mark Barron and the Jackson Police Department’s mounted patrol.

“We’re thrilled to have this kind of publicity in Jackson Hole, but more importantly, to be able to show off our community to the world,” said Barron. “You don’t get to do that every day.”

The cast and crew of more than 100 will shoot the one-hour season three premiere at Lost Creek Ranch.

“The month of August is a huge vacation time, and this town came together to find us the hotel rooms, to make it affordable for us,” said Sally Young, the show’s co-producer.

The highly anticipated episode is super secret, but we do know the big, boisterous family heads to a dude ranch.

“A lot of funniness, I can tell you that,” said Rodriguez.

We know there will be horses.

“We’ve never seen our cast on horses or anything like that, and you know when Mitch and Cam try to become macho, it’s gonna be hilarious,” said Young.

A new character will also debut: the new, talking Lily played by 4-year-old Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who stopped to saddle up as TV-dad Ferguson snapped pictures.

The Emmy-award-winning comedy ensemble may be a modern family, but they’re also real behind the scenes.

“The craziest family ever,” said Nolan Gould, who plays Luke Dunphy.

“Honestly, I think we are the craziest TV family since ‘Married with Children,'” said Winter. “We’re just really real. Everything that happens on the show actually happens to our producers in real life, so it’s pretty crazy.”

Barron hopes the cast and crew get a break from their busy shooting schedule to explore the area.

“I hope they get time to come down to Cowboy bar, saddle up and have a sarsaparilla,” said Barron.

The kids won’t be hitting any bars, but they’re excited about the traditional western activities.

“Horseback riding,” said Gould. “And we’re going to go on the Alpine slide. I’m really excited about that.”

“I definitely want to go riding,” said Winter. “I’ve never been on a horse before, and I think that’d be really awesome if I tried it and I got on one.”

“We may go whitewater rafting. I have no idea,” said Rodriguez. “Whatever happens happens.”

Shooting at the ranch starts on Tuesday and runs through Friday night.

The cast and crew will then shoot scenes at the airport on Saturday before packing up and boarding a plane back to Los Angeles.

“Modern Family” premieres this fall on Wed., Sept. 21 on ABC. Barron said the city plans to have a big premiere party for the occasion.