Santa Clarita might be popular with golfers with its four PGA certified courses, but this Southern California city has much more to offer travelers. The city is the largest in Los Angeles County with over 225,000 residents and offers a wide variety of shops, restaurants, and events. Visitors can fill their days with touring award winning wineries or visiting attractions like Six Flags Magic Mountain.
The Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival presented by the Heritage Sierra Medical Group has been celebrating the city’s rich Western heritage for the past 24 years. This year’s event will take place April 19-23, at various Santa Clarita venues including William S. Hart Park Event Area, Canyon Theater Guild, The MAIN, Hart Mansion, Rancho Camulos, and Buckaroo Book Shop. Visitors will encounter a full Old West experience complete with period-appropriate costumes, food, and decor, as well as authentic poetry readings, live music, storytelling, dancing, and more. A portion of the event’s proceeds will go to Cowboys in the Schools and Youth Poetry Roundup Contest, each of which provide cultural enrichment to the community's youth. We got the opportunity to interview Mayumi Miyasato, Communications Specialist for the City of Santa Clarita, to learn more about this unique event.
RAL: How long has the event been running?
MM: This will be our 24th year celebrating the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival! The initial inspiration for the event came from the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. City leaders saw such a festival as an opportunity to celebrate and memorialize our City’s beginnings as one of the “last western frontiers.”
RAL: How many annual participants do you draw?
MM: Each year, close to 10,000 visitors attend the event.
RAL: What demographic does your event attract? Children? Families? Couples?
MM: Children, families, couples, cowboy culture fanatics, and music lovers, the Cowboy Festival attracts them all. People of all ages and interests can find something to enjoy, from archery to musical performances to peach cobbler.
RAL: What makes this event unique?
MM: Before the City of Santa Clarita was a city, and long before even our most seasoned residents were born, this valley became inhabited by gold and fortune seekers, according to the theme of the California Gold Rush. The population increased with the arrival of Western films and especially the visionary actor and producer, William S. Hart, whose mansion and property is now the setting for the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival. Our City’s rich history is infused in the activities, performances and overall theme of this celebration, bringing a depth that other festivals might not be able to offer.
RAL: Take me through the activities of a day at the event.
MM: The Cowboy Festival allows you to experience the sights and sounds of the Old West in the heart of Santa Clarita. The festival is a family-friendly event that fuses authentic Western culture, live Western music, cowboy poetry, and living history all in one area. If you haven’t thrown a knife, panned for gold, shot an arrow or tried your skills on a mechanical bull, now’s your chance! Our die-hard fans come donned in their historically accurate Western attire, and if you get inspired to up your Cowboy game, you can shop our many authentic Western vendors for spurs, jewelry, Cowboy hats, and other authentic Cowboy gear.
RAL: What is the overall environment like?
MM: Authentic garb, Native American lodging, Civil War reenactors, and the historical setting itself bring the western feel to life. Saddle up, because this is going to be one wild ride! (Guests are invited to dress the part. Fake weapons of any kind are not permitted.)
RAL: What can an attendee expect to find for local lodging?
MM: Guests can find information about accommodations at http://cowboyfestival.org/visit/ including information on our host hotel La Quinta Inn and Suites which has a direct shuttle to the festival on the weekend.
RAL: Does this drive business to your local economy?
MM: The City of Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival is great for local businesses. Many local vendors take advantage of the opportunity to operate booths to sell food or merchandise to attendees. Since the event is regional, local hotel's host visitors in the hundreds who then patronize other merchants and restaurants outside of the festival, but in town. The business community has also been very supportive of the festival through sponsorship opportunities. This year the title sponsor is Heritage Sierra Medical Group who are new to the festival, and we are thrilled to have them.
RAL: Does the event support a special cause in the community?
MM: The City of Santa Clarita puts on the festival primarily to celebrate its rich history of western heritage and provide a culturally enriching entertainment opportunity for both residents and visitors. There is a Cowboys in the Schools program in elementary schools where every year a performer will visit a school and teach the kids how to play songs. There is also a Youth Poetry Roundup Contest available for all school age kids K-12. The students can write and submit a poem, and winners get prizes and the opportunity to perform their poem at the festival. Additionally, both the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society and Friends of Hart Park feature programming at the festival and are collecting donations. Also, Prayer Angels for the Military always have a booth where they take donations to provide care packages to soldiers who are deployed.
RAL: Why should people come to your event?
MM: This celebration of our Cowboy heritage provides a glimpse into the glamor and grit of the old west. The food, award-winning performances, and authentic western elements offer visitors the opportunity to make memories and experience something extraordinary together, with friends and family.
For more information about the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, please visit the event website.