The SaddleBrooke Western Heritage Preservation Club was organized in March of 2016 in an effort to gain priority in obtaining a venue for our meetings. The Club is now sanctioned by both HOA #1 and HOA #2 and membership reached a total of 209 by the spring of 2017.

The roots of the Club started in 2011 with the first Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering held at the Desert View Performing Arts Center. This Gathering featured noted cowboy poet and story teller Baxter Black, outstanding western singer Dave Stamey, and Ross Knox cowboy poet. The Gathering was repeated in 2012 and 2013 with more outstanding performers including Juni Fisher, Randy Rieman, RW Hampton and the Desert Sons. All of the Gatherings were for the benefit of the Tucson Troop Support Group and well over twelve thousand dollars was raised for the troops.

In 2014 the cost of using the Desert View PAC for the Gathering became prohibitive and I switched to the Home Concert format. With this format I invited individual western music performers, in a smaller venue, to perform. Things were going well with attendance at our concerts from fifty to eighty. In 2015 the HOA decided that I was a business entity, even though all the donations from concert attendees went to the performers, and they decided to charge a usage fee to use the venues. Again the cost to pay the fees and give the performers a decent remuneration was prohibitive so the eight shows for the season were cancelled and I decided to retire from the concert production business.

Along came Chas Shafer in the Spring of 2016. Chas and his wife Jennifer are snowbirds from Durango, CO, and have for years been active supporters of the annual Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Chas contacted me and wanted to help with reviving the western music concerts here in SaddleBrooke. I was reluctant to do this but decided that with more enthusiastic help it might be worth a try. The issue was still a reliable, inexpensive venue for these concerts. That's when the idea of a sanctioned club was discussed and pursued. As a club we were able to use venues such as the Mesquite Grill and the Activity Center at no or reasonable cost and the SaddleBrooke Western Heritage Preservation Club was born!

During the 2016/2017 season (September-April) the Club had eleven meetings, each with great entertainers and attendance (90 to 125 members). We are looking forward to another successful season starting September 15, 2017, with guest performer Mary Kaye and followed by eleven more meetings through April of 2018.

Al Mollenkopf
SWHPClub VP, Pgm Chair