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September 16, 2009

Heritage Herd hoofing it in

Cattle drive kicks off western spirit celebration

Toni Hopper

DUNCAN — Mike Smith and 13 other cowboys are doing today what cowboys like to do — riding horses and driving cattle. And the best part is that they are doing this on public roads where everyone can watch and enjoy the fun from the sidelines.

It’s all part of the Western Spirit Celebration “A Cowboy Gathering,” that promises three days of family fun in an Old West setting.

Smith isn’t sure where the term Heritage Herd came from, but remembers it being mentioned in a meeting. It just kind of stuck from there. Many may remember Smith and his team from the Oklahoma Centennial event, when they spent the first week of a four-week campaign driving cattle up the Chisholm Trail. All of those cowboys said they’d do it again in a heartbeat. This time, though, it’s only 37 cattle and not 350 to 400 head of cattle.

“We will start out six miles east of Marlow around 8 a.m. or so on Thursday,” Smith said.

The “we” includes Steve Tevebaugh, Barry Potts, Keith Prater, Terry Fishgrab, Claude Sparks, Sam West, Freddie Craig, Larry Able, Jacob Webb, Kent Smith, Scott Williams, Bruce Cunningham and James Gordon. Tevebaugh will be driving the wagon.

Julie McKinney, chairperson of the Western Spirit Celebration, said that last year’s longhorns attracted quite a bit of attention and because Smith is also on the museum’s board of directors, it wasn’t too hard to get the cattle drive on the events list.

“He volunteered to do it last year,” she said. Smith said they had loaded the cattle up and brought them in that time, but this year the idea of having a cattle drive would generate more interest in the celebration.

Smith said that the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center was originally designed as an educational facility, but expanding on that by adding cowboys and cattle would create interest for the children who could also learn about the history.

“Any time you bring animals in to mix with kids, there’s going to be interest. And these guys volunteer and enjoy what they do. A lot of them are cowboys for a living. This is really invaluable to us,” Smith said.

This week, the cowboys have spent a good deal of time getting their gear together and taking what they need for the weekend — hay, gear, tents — to the museum for their use.

The route begins six miles east of Marlow. The cattle drive will come in on Oklahoma Highway 29 and travel west to Plainsman Road, then head south for a mile, then west on Blackburn Road to U.S. Highway 81. They will go south on the highway to Industrial Drive where they expect to arrive around 1 p.m. They will camp out on Industrial Drive in the right-of-way, Smith said. Around 8:30 a.m. Friday, the cowboys will begin the cattle drive to head to the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center where they will camp for the weekend. Friday’s route will take the drive to the bypass, Smith said, south to Plato Road, east to Chisholm Trail Parkway and south to the CTHC museum grounds.

“It’s 17 miles total, from where we start (Thursday),” Smith said. “We thought it might get some interest to attend the Western Spirit Celebration if we drove them in.”

Besides the cattle drive, Smith said his favorite reason to encourage visitors to the event is the children’s area, which he believes is the number one attraction, and the chuckwagon cooking. Inside the heritage center, which is offering free admission during the event, is the Garis Gallery.

“I visit it and tell people that the Garis Gallery has an original Russell West and a Remington there, and to have something like that local is a pretty cool thing,” Smith said.

Be sure to pick up a copy of Friday’s Banner for more on the Western Spirit Celebration, complete with a list of events.

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