“The Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival is a local and affordable way to spend a sunny, wildly entertaining spring weekend celebrating Santa Clarita’s authentic western culture and heritage with family, friends and neighbors,” commented a City official.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to experience the sights, sounds, and flavors of the Old West on the streets of a historic film studio, which served as the setting for HBO’s Deadwood and countless western classics including The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke and Hopalong Cassidy. The weekend festivities will feature new additions and returning favorites, including Dutch oven peach cobbler, all day children activities, trick ropers and demonstrations, and highlighted by an exceptional musical talent lineup.
Prepare to have all your senses engaged with award-winning Western music on four stages. The festival’s 2011 performer headliners include Hot Club of Cowtown, Don Edwards, Sons of the San Joaquin, Wylie and the Wild West, Waddie Mitchell, Belinda Gail, Sourdough Slim, Chuck Pyle and Larry Maurice
The Cowboy Festival is thrilled to see the return of fan favorites Hot Club of Cowtown. This Jazz/Western swing trio has toured for over 10 years with big name artists including Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. Their upbeat, modern twist on traditional Western music is sure to attract the attention of a modern fan base.
Grammy nominated singer-guitarist and America’s number one Western attraction Don Edwards will once again be at the Festival this year. Also returning is ten gallon funny-man Sourdough Slim. Slim’s hilariously entertaining act transports his audiences to a whimsical world where vaudevillian camp and cowboy lore intermingle to produce grins galore.
Another returning highlight of the Festival is the Children’s Corral, offering free kid-friendly activities all day long. Participants will experience a hands-on taste of the cowboy life, whether it is during story time readings from the award-winning authors during Buckaroo Story Time or releasing their inner cowgirl and cowboy by learning trick roping, panning for gold and leatherworking. Stop by the Buckaroo Book Shop with its shelves full of trick ropes, plush ponies, puzzles, games and more!
Festival entertainment will continue beyond the stage performances with professional trick roper Dave Thornbury who will showcase his lasso skills along Main Street throughout the Festival weekend.
Tickets to the Cowboy Festival weekend at Melody Ranch ™ Motion Picture Studio are available both days of the Festival at the shuttle site to the Ranch on 13th and Railroad. Daily General Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for kids ages 3-11. Children under 3 years of age will be admitted to Melody Ranch free of charge. A Two-Day Weekend Pass is available at $30 for adults and $15 for kids 12 and under.
For more information on the 2011 Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, including additional attractions, parking details, maps and tickets, call (661) 286-4021 or visit www.CowboyFestival.org.