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April 23rd, 2013 
Peter Nolan
The city of Santa Clarita hosted its 20th annual cowboy festival this past weekend with one of the largest crowds in recent memory attending the two-day event. The biggest names in the western music and poetry genre were on hand to entertain festival goers.
Riders in the Sky, Don Edwards, the Sons of the San Joaquin and Baxter Black all played to standing-room only crowds while some attendees shopped at the many western-themed boutiques, learned a little history at the Buffalo Soldiers display and blacksmith shop or enjoyed the trick ropers and Native American dancers.
But like most years all of the music and fun was upstaged by one thing at Melody Ranch. It was not a celebrity or entertainment of any sort except to the taste buds. It was the peach cobbler, which was cooked in old-fashioned cast-iron buckets over hot coals. It can take an hour or more to get thru the line for a bowl of the confection but there were no complaints.
Barbeque, Indian tacos, sausages, corn and potatoes were all available for those who wanted a meal to go along with their dessert. With the unexpected heat on Saturday, the frozen lemonade sold out before the day was over but Sarsaparilla and other soft drinks were available.
The festival takes place each year on the grounds of Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio, which was owned by Gene Autry. The ranch remains a working studio with a variety of projects being filmed on its sound stages and back lot. “Django Unchained” was filmed, in part, at the studio last year. “Gunsmoke,” “Lone Ranger” and “Deadwood” are all a part of Melody Ranch history.
If you have never attended cowboy festival, Santa Clarita puts on one of the best. Plan to attend the 21st Annual Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival next year, which will be held sometime in April 2014.
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