Community, cowboys shine at the second annual West Fest
WINFIELD TWP — Nearly a year after the first ever West Fest, the frontier-themed event returned with a bang at Sprankle Woods.
On Friday evening, June 20, guests from Butler County began to walk into the 40-acre woodland property for a wild west experience.
Carrie Irvine, the vendor relations manager for West Fest, said the event fostered the American frontier experience by being true to the style, from western themed boutiques to a hat bar for designing personalized cowboy hats. Even the lemonade was designed to resemble the western aesthetic.
“We want you to feel like you are in the wild west,” Irvine said. “We keep everything on brand.”
Just as important to the West Fest experience is the role of the local community in coming together to throw a big party.
“We shoot to have local businesses’ handmade stuff. Rarely do we have something imported,” Irvine said. “A lot of these people are friends.”
The neighbors who brought over their own horses and carriages from across the street were far from the only people from the area who contributed. Many of the 28 food and craft vendors were from small businesses from around the community.
Whether it be Honey So Good from a local apiary to J and J Farms Animal Sanctuary, a registered nonprofit, local groups were able to share their products and philanthropic work with the community, while being authentic to the western theme.
From handcrafted jewelry and clothes to ax throwing and archery contests, there was more than plenty to do. But the stars of the evening were the Shooting Star Renegades, a mounted group that performed a timed shooting contest in the show ring.
Derek DeMayo, a participating horseback rider, said the group aims to spread the sport of mounted shooting by putting on a show for audiences.
“I don’t know how I stumbled upon it but when I started riding, I was like, ‘I found it,’” DeMayo said. “Shooting guns and riding horses — what’s better than that?”
Brianna King, the founder of the Shooting Star Renegades, said the group started to bring the sport, along with the cowboy experience, to Butler County.
“We like sharing it (mount shooting) and replicating the wild west,” King said.
The Shooting Star Renegades, King said, were able to do just that at West Fest.
With the second West Fest being bigger in scale than the inaugural one last year, Irvine said she looked forward to this year bringing in a bigger crowd as well.
“We had a pretty good turnout last year,” Irvine said. “Hoping for a better one of course each year that we go.”
Day two of the 2025 West Fest is scheduled to open its doors at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 21. There is a $5 admission fee.
