SIMI VALLEY : Movie Ranch to Host YMCA Benefit Fair

The Simi Valley area movie ranch where “Little House on the Prairie” was filmed will be the setting for a festival Saturday and Sunday aimed at raising money for the Simi Valley Family YMCA.

The Big Sky Country Fair will feature stunt acts, pony rides, movie set tours, frontier exhibits, live music, midway games and refreshments. The 35-member K Troop will re-create U. S. cavalry drills from the 1880s.

The event will be held at the Big Sky Movie Ranch, where portions of the “Little House” series were shot, along with scenes for television series such as “Dallas,” “Gunsmoke” and “The Dukes of Hazzard” and films such as “Coming to America.”

The grounds will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The ranch can be reached by taking Tapo Canyon Road north from the Simi Valley Freeway, then turning left on Bennett Road. Parking is available at the Red Ranch House.

Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for children under 12 and people over 55.

The event, which began in 1987, has been expanded over the years, drawing thousands of visitors and raising more than $80,000 for YMCA programs, said Jim King, director of the Simi Valley Family YMCA.