The City of Santa Clarita and the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce will unveil two new inductees into the Walk of Western Stars as part of the 22nd Annual Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival. Legendary stuntman Diamond Farnsworth will be inducted with a ceremony on Thursday, April 16, 2015, followed by world-famous cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell on Saturday, April 18, 2015. Both ceremonies are free and open to the public.

The Walk of Western Stars induction ceremony for Diamond Farnsworth will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, 2015 on Main Street between 8th Street and Market Street in Old Town Newhall. Farnsworth has worked as a film and television stuntman since 1968 and a stunt coordinator since 1980, appearing in more than 50 feature films and more than 500 episodes of primetime television, including “Bonanza” and “How the West Was Won.” He currently serves as stunt coordinator and stunt double for Mark Harmon on “NCIS.” Diamond is the son of actor and stuntman Richard Farnsworth, who was inducted into the Walk of Western Stars in 2000.

Following the ceremony, Farnsworth will share about his life and career in “The Art of the Stuntman with Diamond Farnsworth,” beginning at 8:00 p.m. at the Repertory East Playhouse, located at 24266 Main Street. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at CowboyFestival.org.

Photo: Donald Kallaus

Cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell will be honored with a Walk of Western Stars induction ceremony at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, 2015 on Main Street between 8th Street and Market Street in Old Town Newhall. Named “America’s Best Known Cowboy Poet” by People Magazine, Mitchell helped organize the first Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering in 1984, and has since performed for audiences internationally. From his earliest days on the remote Nevada ranches where his father worked, Mitchell was immersed in the cowboy way of entertaining, and the art of spinning tales in rhyme and meter that came to be called cowboy poetry, a Western tradition that is as rich as the lifestyle that created it.

Similar in style to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Walk of Western Stars honors actors, directors, film professionals and performers for their contributions to America’s Western heritage. Diamond Farnsworth and Waddie Mitchell will join notable Western legends, including Gene Autry, Lee Marvin, James Stewart, John Wayne, Roy Rogers and William S. Hart, among others, by being immortalized in bronze and terrazzo tiles stamped into the streets of Old Town Newhall.
For more information on the Walk of Western Stars, visit OldTownNewhall.com or contact City of Santa Clarita Arts and Events Administrator Phil Lantis at (661) 250-3775 or at plantis@santa-clarita.com.