Cowboy poets set to gather in Elko for annual national event

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering -- a festival celebrating the arts of ranching and cowboy culture -- observes its 24th year beginning Jan. 26 and running through Feb. 2 in Elko.

This year, the Western Folklife Center, producer of the event, welcomes cowboys from the Sonora region of northern Mexico and the Western United States to the gathering, where they will celebrate shared legacies of land and livestock, share traditions of poetry and music and explore the future of ranching culture and the West.

In recent years, the Western Folklife Center has invited cowboys from other parts of the world -- including Australia, the British Isles, Mongolia, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and France -- to share their culture with their counterparts in the United States.

"These cultural exchanges have become an important part of the gathering," explains Charlie Seemann, Western Folklife Center executive director. "Our guests teach us that we may be continents and oceans apart, but we share basic philosophies and principles common to horse and cattle culture. And despite language barriers, we can communicate through music, poetry, foodways and the other traditional arts that sustain and inspire us all."

The purpose of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is to present and preserve the traditional and contemporary arts created by people living close to the land in the American West. Through poetry, music, stories, hand-crafted gear, film, photography, food and more, the Western Folklife Center strives to convey the challenges of rural life in the West.

In recent years, discussion of rural issues has become part of the gathering, as leaders in the conservation movement have come together with ranchers to find common ground in an atmosphere of collaboration and concern for the future of the West.

The gathering will feature performances by close to 60 poets, musicians and musical groups. Special exhibits, workshops, films, lectures, panel discussions, ranch dances and late-night jam sessions, all contribute to the event.

Each year the Western Folklife Center invites Western writers and scholars to speak at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering on issues critical to our region.

For more information about ticketed shows and workshops at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, visit the event's Web site at www.westernfolklife.org.