The Western edge of the U.S. continent was the site of a slow-moving cultural and political explosion that lasted hundreds of years.
These days, we call that moment in history the Wild West, and if Santa Clarita’s Cowboy Festival is anything to go by, we’ve still got much more to say — and much more to discover — about the history that made this part of America.
The 30th annual Cowboy Festival sees thousands of visitors from all over Southern California pass through the Newhall festival for free each year, and much of the draw, if visitors, entertainers and tradespeople are anything to go by, comes from the opportunity learn about a moment in history that defined Santa Clarita, along with the rest of the state. On Monday, city officials estimated that 10,000 people per day attended this year — the festival’s largest crowd ever.
While more than 15 musicians performing rock, country, folk and the shades in between rotated through the festival’s two stages, and kids enjoyed booth after booth of Western-themed carnival games and food, history had come to life: Throughout the middle of Hart Park, historical reenactors were manning detailed recreations of camps pulled from Western frontier conflicts.
At the Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa’s tent, members of the nonprofit Historical Units of Southern California portrayed significant members of a key historical moment for the West, when Villa lead a 1,500-man raid on a U.S. border town in the spring of1916.
Historical Units of Southern California member Michaela Negrete, in criss-crossed bandoliers and a wide-brimmed hat, portraying fellow revolutionary Petra Herrera, described that year as part of the “last gasp” of the “wild” west.
“This is probably around the time that Pancho Villa would have … led the first successful raid on U.S. territory since the War of 1812,” Negrete said. “On this side (of the field), we have our Mexican Revolution, and on that side we have our American Expeditionary Forces that are going into Mexico following Pancho.”
That conflict, and the wider Mexican Revolution, transformed Mexico as well as the U.S. —during that time, U.S. opportunists came to Mexico to seek fortune and adventure — and created generations of Santa Claritans who can recall their families’ connection to that time in history.
Thanks to the Cowboy Festival, they can also see it.
“A lot of the Mexican American population comes up (to us), and the first thing they say is like, ‘Oh, wow. I never really see our history presented like that,’” Negrete said. “It really gets them instantly involved in that way.”
The pull of history is everywhere at the Cowboy Festival: besides professional historical reenactors, the festival also sees an impressive bulk of laypeople looking for an opportunity to show off their amateur, but by no means half-baked, frontier costumes each year.
Megan Dalke, 20, came from Santa Barbara to this year’s festival to wear a dark purple Victorian bustle dress, complete with gloves, coin purse and formal hat. After buying the dress on Amazon, she made slight alterations to make it more period appropriate.
“This dress is actually a replica of a film dress from the movie Back to the Future Three, because it takes place in 1885,” Dalke said. “So it is a cosplay, in a way, but I still thought it fit this whole setting … I needed no excuse to wear it, I love this dress too much.”
Dalke said she was impressed by the effort she’d seen in other attendees’ costumes.
“Everybody else dressed up as well,” Dalke said. “It’s my first time here, but seeing so many people dressed up and historically … it’s so fun to see.”
The event’s commitment to historical immersion extended all the way down the to the south end of the festival, where performers Margo Caruso and Jeni Seidler Wilson with the theater company Eclipse Theater L.A. implored passersby to try the whiskey and tequila flights at the city’s Wildwood Outpost, where Eclipse Theater L.A. owners Nancy and Phil Lantis were manning the Rising Moon Saloon.
The company routinely performs at the Newhall theater The Main.
Nancy said the Cowboy Festival is a great opportunity for company members to interact with a new kind of audience, playing American frontier-era saloon owners and waitresses in billowing dresses and sleeve garters, but it was also an opportunity for a fitting tribute to Santa Clarita’s cowboy movie history.
“It’s a wonderful marriage of the history of Santa Clarita … and William Hart being an actor, and all of the all of the stuff he shot around here, and all of the notoriety he brought to this Valley, being an actor — and being an advocate for the safety of stunts, for animals, he was kind of a forerunner in many of those aspects,” Nancy said. “So to be here honoring that tradition is a lot of fun.”
The day was a hit for families looking to show the history of Southern California to their kids — some for the first time, and some for the latest of many years of return visits. That included parents Diana and Sam Araiz, who were having lunch with their two kids, Abby and Josiah, at the Rising Moon Saloon.
Diana said this is their third time at the festival. Sam said the festival’s commitment to the theme made all the difference — for him and for the kids.
“I love the historical part of the Western theme,” Sam said. “It’s kind of deep rooted in California … I love it, and I’m glad to be able to share it with my kids.”
Diana added that the effort this year shone through.
“They do a really good job in doing so … from all of the props, to everything, (it) just seems so realistic,” Diana said. “You can really see the Wild West. We love it.”
