Traveling Tramps: Right where we belong,,,

,,, that was the motto of the 39th National Cowboy Gathering (here the original poster in the Western Folklife Center's Gallery by Teal Blake). Young and old artists, poets and musicians (about 1/2 and 1/2), men and women of different ethnicities from all over the U.S.A. (including Hawaii) and Canada were performing at different venues, on several stages, in Elko/Nevada. Over 50 artists, plus specialists, orators, horse trainers, chefs, and hands-on people of all kinds were present.

From Thursday to Saturday different "panels" and other sessions took place all day long simultanously, some with three or four artists alternatingly reciting poems or singing songs, some consisting of a single artist, all under different topics. In addition, there were four (!) evening concerts (photos below) in two venues - the large Convention Center Theater and the smaller G Three Bar Theater each night.

Also, highly interesting and enlightening talks and discussions (left) took place. Scientists, ranchers, activists and conservationalists, people from WWF and The Nature Conservancy, talked about land management, sustainable ranching, regenerating agriculture, climate change, holistic management, natural horsemanship, etc.

Films, demonstrations and workshops (all kinds of leatherwork, poetry writing, storytelling, and, many children's programs, Open Mics, dance courses and gallery talks were offered as well and there was the Western Mercantile (below), food vendors, a bar and much, much more.

From Thursday to Saturday - the main festival days – we spent 13+ hours at the event, moving inbetween the Convention/Conference Center, the G Three Bar Theater and other subsidary venues to listen to superb presentations of all kinds. Don't think that there is a similar versatile and artistically top-notch event on Western lifestyle, music, culture anywhere in the U.S.A.

Some photos from poetry panels below:

Jarle Kvale, Doris Daley and Terry Nash

Annie Mackenzie, Olivia Romo, Dana Wirth (an opera singer!) and Darrell Holden

Inbetween shows we explored downtown Elko a bit - first two days were gorgeous, warm and sunny, the other two colder with rain –, a town with many "classical/retro" motels with fancy neon signs (below), with many murals and "old-west atmosphere". Although distances between venues are short, nothing is really walkable, but there is plenty of parking and even after shows, there was no hustle and bustle.

Below, photos from the Keynote Address (the official opening of the event) on Thursday morning with Indian Drums (Painted Horse) and Indian dancers (there are Indian tribes in the area!). Ranch manager Jeff Mundell from California (first photo) delivered the speech about modern-day problems on ranches, the archetype of a cowboy and sustainable ranching and stewardship of the land.

On Friday we had the honor to be invited to a casual dinner with the Lieutenant Governor of Nevada, Stavros Anthony (with family roots on Cyprus!), and his wife Bernadette, very nice down-to-earth, sociable people. We had great conversation and a good Italian meal before we attended another evening show in the G Three Bar Theater.

Below now some random photos of musicians and poets - some, like Lara Manzanares, Andy Hedges, Geno Delafose or Ismay are real favs of us - at the NCPG this year :