How this Heber Valley festival preserves the cowboy way of life

HEBER — It started as a chili cook-off and a group of friends who simply wanted to perform their cowboy poetry.

Diane Pope said so many people came to the informal gathering at Midway Town Hall that the organizers ran out of both food and space.

"It was just a bigger success than they imagined it would be," she said. "So the following year, they held it over at our high school. And we've been growing ever since."

Diane Pope said she and her husband, Doug Pope, have been board members for the Heber Valley Western Music and Cowboy Poetry Gathering for almost 20 years. Diane Pope is also the festival's producer.

The event, now in its 27th year, draws between 12,000 and 15,000 people over its five-day span each fall, she said. This year would have been the gathering's 28th anniversary if not for COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020, she added.

This year's festival is Oct. 12-16, and features a lineup of 30 performers including singers, poets and other entertainers. The bulk of events will take place at Wasatch High School, with dinner performances at Midway Town Hall and at Soldier Hollow.

General admission is $12, waived with any same-day concert ticket, which ranges from $10 to $75. Tickets are available online, at hebervalleycowboypoetry.com.

However, on Oct. 13, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., visitors can walk free through Tom's Cabin, which features cowboy memorabilia collected by another festival founder, Tom Whitaker.

Also free to the public Thursday through Saturday, are the Mountain Man Trader's Camp and the Buckaroo Fair, both of which will offer a range of cowboy wares and food; as well as shooting competitions on Friday and Saturday.

The historic Heber Valley Railroad, also known as the "Cowboy Express," will be running throughout the festival and tickets range from $25 to $45 per person to ride.

The five-day event kicks off the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 12, at the Midway Town Hall with a cowboy dinner and live performances by Joshua Creek and Dave and Jenny Anderson. Poets Jeff Carson and Ryan Fritz will also take the stage.

Preserving the cowboy way of life

Diane Pope said cowboy poetry developed as cowboys, who had little to do in the evenings, began writing and reciting poetry around the campfires about the day's events.

"You go from laughing out loud, to shedding a tear," she said.

Doug Pope added that the festival features western music rather than country music. Western music has "a little more of an old-time feel to it," he said. "A lot of these folks that are more traditional western singers, they sing a lot about the ranching life."

Diane Pope said she and the other board members spend all year planning and preparing for the gathering.

Most of the funding comes from local government and from sponsors, she said.

Pope said Heber Valley used to have 30 dairy farms, but it is down to just one. And while the area still has several cattle ranches, they're "on the smaller scale."

With farm ground "getting eaten up by subdivisions," Pope said she wants people, especially kids, to have a taste of what cowboy life was like.

"(It was) a simpler way of life ... an honest way of life," she said. "And so we just felt very strongly ... that we wanted to do something for the next generation or two to remember (that) this valley ... was founded and developed through the life of a rancher and dairyman."

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