PEACE OF THE PAST MOVIE SET GIVES BREAK FROM WAR NEWS.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

NEWHALL - When asked to summarize the Cowboy Poetry Festival, storyteller and poet Waddie Mitchell tossed out a few lines of rhyme Sunday as the annual event trailed off into the sunset.

``Did you wish you can turn time back and live things over again?'' he said, leaning back on his chair. ``To abort regrets, or bite a lip so as not to hurt a friend?''

Hundreds took a step back and found a brief respite from trouble Sunday, the last day of the 10th annual Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival, colored with its sepia tint of nostalgia and the groove of country music. They temporarily inhabited the Old West at its grittiest - right down to the dust. Urban cowboys and cowgirls, with cellular phones strapped on their belts, took it all in as they strolled down the main drag of period buildings on the historic Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio.

``This is much more than I expected,'' said Jerry Menter, 39, of Saugus as he listened to an old piano melody outside a saloon. ``When you go to Universal (Studios), they just have a tram that takes you by the set every half hour. But this takes you to the heart of it. Even the dust is real dust.''

Several yards away, Perry Peffer, 38, of Torrance held on to his excited son as the pair crammed themselves into a horse-drawn stagecoach for a tour of the grounds.

``He just wanted to see the horses,'' Peffer said.

When the ride came to an end, 2-year-old Dylan jumped out of his seat.

``How fun!'' he blurted with delight.

Christine Martin, 55, of Valencia was especially pleased that her childhood idol William Boyd was being honored on the Walk of Western Stars in downtown Newhall.

``My hero was Hopalong Cassidy,'' she said, tugging at a painting of the Western legend she just purchased. ``He really epitomized the character of the Old West - that truth is important, and your word is as good as gold.''

But despite the escape-it-all setting, the war in Iraq was never far from people's minds.

``I just hope that we all learn how important it is to support the troops,'' Mitchell said. ``Whether you agree with the political situation or not, we've got young Americans in harm's way.''

Luigi Kirchmann, 36, of Valencia found the festival a break from world events for him and his family.

``(The war) is something you always think about,'' he said. ``You feel bad that the troops are still over there. But it is kind of nice to be here.''

Kirchmann, who moved to the Santa Clarita Valley from New York City more than two years ago, is raising his 2-year-old son Anthony to be a little cowboy.

``There is nothing like this in the city,'' he said. ``We've seen horses and donkeys and mules, and we're still trying to figure out what's what. But he loves it.''

Back in his chair, Mitchell ended his rhyme: ``O, if we could turn back time, our lives would be enhanced,'' he said. ``But best try to do it the first time 'round, cause there ain't no second chance.''

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Jacob Stafford, 6, watches John Hustead ride and rope Sunday at the Cowboy Poetry Festival on Melody Ranch.

(2 -- color) Local Miss Teen USA nominee Lauren Moniz talks with, from left, Gregg Tompkins, Jason Tompkins and Dwight Tompkins in their Old West attire Sunday on Melody Ranch.

(3) Chris Ferrarelli of Los Alamitos, who helps re-enact history, adjusts his hat as he walks down the Melody Ranch main street in his authentic Old West attire and gear.

(4 -- also ran in Valley edition) Blacksmith Bryan Jones of Riverside demonstrates his trade Sunday at a festival on Melody Ranch in Newhall.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer