b'THE ARIZONA DUUUDEMary Brown and the National Festival of the WestBy Bob Roloff, The Arizona DuuudePART 1 You can follow Bob Roloff on Facebook.S ometimes destiny takes afollowing year, Jim agreedA western festival should be hand - some things are justdone in the West. And so it began! meant to be. Some things are written in the stars. If youThe first festivals were held at the old Rawhide Western talk with Mary Brown, thats what shell say about theTown at Scottsdale Road and Pinnacle Peak! It was a National Festival of the West. But dont let her kid you.perfect venue for what we had in mind, Mary recalls. A lot of workblood, sweat and tears as they say, wentAnd so in those early days of planning I went to into the creation, organization, and production of whatwork for Rawhide as one of their street characterswas to become the countrys largest nonrodeo westernMoonshine McGurkI ran the gold mine at the end event.And it was held right here in Arizona.of the streetand I had a blast! But more than the job as Moonshine, Mary got to know the inner workings That first spark of that written in the stars, startedof Rawhide and got to know the management. She when Mary was a child growing up watching countlessdiscussed her idea of a Western festival with Rawhides western TV shows. As a matter of fact, westerns weregeneral manager, Victor Ostrow, who loved the idea and nearly ALL there was on TV at that time. She watchedagreed to do all he could to support the event. them all, but there was one cowboyone very specialNames were bantered about until finally cowboy, to whom Mary lostwith the help and advice of many others, her 11-year-old heart. That wasThe National Festival of the West was actor, John Smith, who playeddeemed to be perfect. Research was done in the TV series Cimarron Cityand Mary became involved with just about and later in Laramie. any and every group she could find that had anything to do with Westerns. She joined Fate would have it that Marythe Western Music Association, eventually would, later in life, meetbecoming vice president of the group. In thatto be entrenched in Western atmosphere, Western her childhood heroandtime she learnedtradition, Western lore, history, and romance. That was miraculously, they becameabout Westernthe main goalto have fun, the cowboy way! close friends. Smith had leftmusic and perhaps the movie industry and hadmore importantlyAnd so, after what was a less than stellar first year, Mary, become a recluse by the timeabout Westernsomehow managed to convince her entire family to join Mary met him. But he was still quite handsome and musicians, whoin. Husband, Jim was working full time at Motorola a very nice man, indeed, Mary remembers. would becomeas an electrical engineer at the time but he took his an integral partvacation to work the behind the scenes duties. Son, Eventually, word got around that Mary knew Mr. Smith,of The NationalWeston, was commandeered as well. West often joked who after enjoying the fruits of stardom, had all butFestival of thethat other kids got to do exciting things on their spring disappeared from public view. In 1988 she was asked toWest.break, but he got to go to Festival of the West! Sister, invite him to a nostalgia festival in Asheville NC. UponNancy Kennedy, came on board as the events graphic asking his reply was, Ill go if you will! Surprised andThe first festivalartist and as vendor coordinator. Even Marys parents a bit taken aback, Mary asked her husband what hewas held in Aprilwere very involved and spent weeks before the festival thought. Jim readily replied. Gohave funbehave1991. It was notworking on brochures, handing out posters and discount yourself! And so she did. a huge success. Mary remembers. We had some greatcoupons. During the festival, Marys mom ran the event vendorssome awesome entertainersincluding Themercantile and her dad worked security. It was a family I had so much fun at that festival, Mary recalls. But allReinsmen, who were the backup for Rex Allen, sheefforta mom and pop operation that turned into a the time I was there I was thinking, why isnt someonesmiles. But we had bad weather, we didnt have a lot ofhuge success. doing this Western thing in Arizonawhere it reallymoney for advertisingand so our turn out wasnthappened. She went home, told her husband hervery good.My idea was to turn everything we made back into the thoughts and after Jim and Mary attended the event theevent, every year to make it grow and to keep it fresh and The pieces were all there, without questiongreat music,fun by adding new activities and events every year. great vendors, cowboy poetry and fun panel discussions with the celebrities, but the harsh reality of a small crowd hit Mary during that last day of the festival. What kept her going is another one of those meant to be things. Actor, Jan Merlin attended that first festival as a guest celebrity. He saw Marys depression and wrote her a note saying, All babies cry when they are born. Dont dismay. You have a wonderful idea here. Dont stop. Keep it going. And so she did. That note is framed and hangs in Marys office to this day!My plan from the very beginning, Mary explains, was to have an event where people could come and playseriously play at their dream of being a cowboyor cowgirl! I wanted folks to be able to meet their cowboy heroesjust as I had met John Smith. I wanted people ArizonaRealCountry.com April 2020 17'