FRONTIER DAYS BACK ON HORIZON; FESTIVAL RESURRECTED AFTER DISMAL SHOWING.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Frontier Days, a Santa Clarita Valley tradition that seemed doomed to extinction, will be held after all, as the local Elks Lodge will stage the three-day festival on the second weekend in October.

The 33rd annual event will be held Oct. 10-12 on about 30 acres of land next to the Antelope Valley Freeway and Sand Canyon Road, Jay Larkins, exalted ruler of Elks Lodge No. 2379 in Canyon Country, said Friday. In early June, the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce announced that it would not stage the annual carnival. The event, a celebration of the valley's western heritage, was moved from its usual time during autumn to the Fourth of July weekend in 1996.

That event was a money-loser, and seemed to signal the demise of Frontier Days.

But Larkins said the 357-member Elks chapter wanted to resurrect the popular festival, and private landowners agreed to allow the celebration on their property next to the freeway. ``This year, since the chamber had decided not to put it on, we approached them about putting it on and they agreed to let us use the name,'' he said.

``The big thing to us is the Elks Lodge is finally bringing home the Frontier Days festival, that started at the Elks Lodge years and years ago,'' Larkins said. ``It's coming back home to us.''

Chamber President Tim Burkhart spoke in less certain terms about the fate of Frontier Days, simply because the final decision rests with the chamber's board of directors.

``The Elks are going to do an event, and we are trying to work out the details of whether it can be called Frontier Days or not,'' Burkhart said. ``Whether we license the use of the name to them or whether we give them the name to use . . . it's actually a little premature to talk about it.''

The chamber board of directors also will have to decide whether to let the Elks run the event every year, or if the chamber should resume control again in a few years.

``From the perspective that we're going to work something out, it is a done deal,'' Burkhart added. ``The event has such a history, and it's such a well-received thing, that we don't want it to die away.''

Last year, Frontier Days was held on property owned by The Newhall Land and Farming Company, on Soledad Canyon Road east of the Saugus Speedway. The agricultural land wasn't available this year, Burkhart said. ``We were hard on the property,'' he said.

Erecting fencing, compacting bumpy soil and bringing water and electricity to the property last year was an expense bigger than the proceeds, Burkhart said. ``It just cost us so much money to prepare the site for the event that we lost money. The event is intended as a fund raiser, not a break-even thing,'' he said.

``That's the entire reason that we didn't do it this year. We didn't have a place in the Santa Clarita Valley that was big enough to do Frontier Days the way it's always been done,'' Burkhart said.

Plans call for this year's edition of Frontier Days to feature live music from rock and country-western bands, a petting zoo, an arts and crafts fair, food booths, carnival rides and games, lessons in country line dancing and mock gunfighting exhibitions.

Larkins said there will be a nominal admission fee for Frontier Days, and after expenses have been met any profits will fund Elks Lodge programs - particularly its annual college scholarships, along with its Hoop Shoot and Soccer Shoot-Out events.

The chapter is seeking donations of equipment, materials and supplies to stage the event, along with volunteer labor, Larkins added. Whether the Miss Frontier Belle Pageant will be included in Frontier Days is still being worked out, he noted.