Annual Heber City festival rounds up passel of talented cowboy poets and performers

Over the past 13 years, Heber City's Cowboy Poetry Gathering and Buckaroo Fair has quietly gone from a meeting of a few friends to what many now consider one of the top such gatherings in the country.

In a list of the nation's best Western events, True West magazine's March 2007 issue put Heber City at No. 1.

"Nobody brings in as many big names as we do," says founder and organizer Tom Whitaker. "We've worked hard, and we're happy to see people notice."

That first year, maybe 250 people came, he says. "But they had a great time and we decided we should do it again. Now we have between 8,000 and 10,000. They've come from practically every state in the country. It gets bigger every year."

"I'd say it is one of the five best of its kind in the U.S.," cowboy poet and singer Waddie Mitchell said by phone from his ranch in Nevada.

Mitchell has been coming to Heber for about eight years and will act as this year's host. "I'm so proud of the way they've done it. Heber is the perfect town for this. It takes you back to hometown America."

Veterinarian turned cowboy poet Baxter Black agrees. "Heber City still has that ranching, agriculture feel," Black said by phone from his Arizona home. "That adds a lot of authenticity. It's a big show, and it's professionally done."

Mitchell and Black are two of a long list of headliners, which includes Riders in the Sky, Michael Martin Murphey, Bar J Wranglers, Sons of the San Joaquin, Curly Musgrave & Belinda Gail, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Chris Isaacs and a whole lot more — as well as a full roster of local favorites such as Gary Russell, Colen H. Sweeten Jr. and the Root Beer Reunion.

"No one's doing what Heber's doing," says songwriter, poet and artist Russell (whose other claim to fame is appearing as Martha Stewart's Santa Claus in her Christmas special). "It's magic, just magic."

From the moment the doors open, there's nonstop music and poetry, says Whitaker. "You can wander in and sit for a few minutes or a few hours."

In addition, there's the Buckaroo Fair, featuring more than 40 booths offering everything Western: John Wayne movies, a horse show extravaganza, the Cowboy Poet Express ride on the Heber Valley Historic Railroad, a Mountain Man trader's camp, jam sessions with the artists, special concerts, a Cowboy Church on Sunday and much more. There's also food, food, food — including barbecue by Eddie Deen, President Bush's official caterer from Texas. (After catering Heber's Wild West Show during the Olympics, he's been back every year for the gathering.)