COWBOY MUSIC AND POETRY CELEBRATED AT NEWHALL'S MELODY RANCH.Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer NEWHALL - Back in the old days, Santa Clarita was a wild and dusty town. This weekend, the city will conjure up some of that Western heritage with its 11th annual Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival, which opened Wednesday night with a boot-scootin' fashion show. The festival will wind down Sunday night, with cowboy balladeer Don Edwards performing in the high school auditorium named for Newhall's most famous resident, Western silent-movie star William S. Hart. Most of the activities will take place at the historic Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio in Placerita Canyon. The filming site for cable television's HBO series ``Deadwood,'' Melody Ranch is an active movie See ActiveMovie. studio. Festival visitors will be able to walk down its main streets, where such film and TV classics as ``Gunsmoke,'' ``The Lone Ranger'' and ``Wyatt Earp'' were filmed. Vendors selling western wear, gifts and art will be set up along the street. A food court will feature items such as homemade fruit cobbler, biscuits and gravy, and tri-tip sandwiches cooked inside a massive ``train engine.'' At Melody Ranch, the entertainment is included in the $15 price of admission. Performing artists at the Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival include: Joni Harms, David Wilkie and Cowboy Celtic, the Burson Family, Katy Moffatt, Ken and Phee Graydon, Larry Maurice, Wylie and the Wild West, Dave Stamey, Prairie Flower and Cactus Bob, New West, David John and the Comstock Cowboys cowboys, in American history. 1 Tory marauders, adherents to the British cause in the American Revolution, who fought in the contested area of Westchester co., N.Y. Their opposite numbers, who favored the Revolutionary cause and who operated in the same territory at the same period, were called skinners. 2 Mounted men employed as herders on cattle ranches of the American West. and many others. At other venues around town: Belinda Gail and Curly Musgrave, in the living room of Hart's hilltop mansion, and R.W. Hampton at Hart High School. On Friday afternoon, four performers who made significant contributions to the area's Western heritage will officially join the Walk of Western Stars - their names inscribed on bronze saddles set in pink terrazo along San Fernando Road in downtown Newhall. At 3 p.m., a free public ceremony for the honored stars will be held at San Fernando Road and Market Street. Later that evening, a gala dinner dance honoring the four is scheduled at the Valencia Hyatt. Also, a swing dance featuring live music by The Lucky Stars will be held at the American Legion Hall on Saturday night and The Master's College will again host Cowboy Church at 8 a.m. Sunday. Tickets are available for off-site events as well as general admission tickets for events at Melody Ranch. Call the city office at (661) 286-4021. A schedule for Newhall's cowboy festival is available on the city's Web site at www.santa-clarita.com/cp/2004/schedule.asp. No cameras are allowed at Melody Ranch. To ride the free shuttle buses, visitors must park in the lot at 13th and Arch streets. Carol Rock, (661) 257-5252 carol.rock(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Singer Katy Moffatt, a Texas native, will perform through the weekend at the Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival in Newhall. David R. Crane/Staff Photographer |
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