National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, p.1

The high-desert cowboy (& mining) town of Elko, Nevada, is never so vivid and colorful than during the “The Gathering”, end of January/beginning of February, a week-long coming-together of people connected to Western/Cowboy culture, poetry, music, arts, horsemanship and ranching. It is a multi-faceted experience and an occasion to get to know "the real deal", real cowboys, ranchers, country people. And, it's an opportunity to get to know that America is more than the "intellectual" coasts, New York and L.A., places where many correspondents and writers are based.

This event is all about honest, down-to-earth, polite, hard-working people who live life on the land, don't care about fancy stuff and fashion and believe in family and religion, nature and cattle. Most of the selected/invited artists to the NCPG are "part-time" artists: horse trainers, rodeo cowboys, ranchers, ranch wives, cowpunchers. "Stars" and bigheads are rare. It’s a multigenerational, multi-ethnical event, with men and women, Indians and Blacks (that's how they all call themselves here, same for woman describing themselves as"cowboying"). 

It's about ranch food, art, gear, dance, music, poetry, there are artists and speakers, folklorists, naturalists, environmentalists. Particularly interesting are the discussions, like about holistic management or nature conservancy, water or land management, cattle and horses, historical or artistic Western topics. Many visitors like the different (dance/braiding/leatherwork/creative writing etc.) workshops or the cooking classes. Educational programs, open mics, films, a ranch tour, and much more than expected!

Though, the NCPG officially takes place from Monday to Saturday, most of the poetry and music program is concentrated from Thursday to Saturday with panels and shows going on from 9 am to 10 pm, simultanuously in different venues and rooms.

The festival was introduced in 1985 by a small group of folklorists and poets, and, now, the Gathering has grown into one of the top-ranking Western/Cowboy Poetry/Music Events in the U.S. Heart and soul of it is the Western Folklife Center in downtown with a shop, a nice museum (photos below), a bar (see previous post) and the G Three Bar Theater (300 seats). 

 

A selection of paintings of famous poets/singers performing regularly in Elko

The other hotspot is the the (much larger) Elko Convention Center and Conference Center with its 900-seat theater (left and below), plus there are some other venues all-over town. Daytime sessions (included in your 3-day-pass) take place in several rooms of the C&C Center, many of them in "panels" of three or four artists taking turns in presenting their poems or music. Evening shows (extra admission) take place in both theaters. 

 The Keynote Address - the opening event on Thursday - took place in the large theater (below) with a great recollection of 40 years of NCPG by cowboy poet/singer/songwriter/filmmaker Gail Steiger, preceded by a blessing by Indian Chief Phillip Whiteman Junior, Northern Cheyenne, showing these beautiful eagle feathers on the photo below.

There were several day-time (members) shows, and two daily evening shows in the C&C Center theater as well:

Almost "cozier" and more intimate are the shows in the G Three Bar Theater in the historic Pioneer Hotel:

 Here some impressions from different day-time panels:

Superb poets' panel above: Kye Rieff, Dick Gibford, Jonathan Oderman, Jake Riley

Andy Hedges - folklorist, singer-songwriter and creator of the great Cowboy Crossroads podcast

Indian artists' presentation (above): Kevin Jones, Jack Malotte, James Shoshone, Chief Phillip Whiteman Jr. (left to right)

There is a "Mercantile" (different vendors) in the C&C Center (photos above) and food vendors, a book/music store and a "Western Library". 

The last three days were packed to the limit, we almost forgot to eat while following programs from 9 am to 10 pm. Wonderful looong days, head spinning, full of ideas and thoughts. 

Picture taking was the only little drawback of this year's festival. Other than in previous years, only a handful of photographers got permission to take photos. Regular ones (like me), aren't allowed to take close-ups anymore without a written permission of each artist (which is not realistic!). Fortunately, we knew some of the artists, but in general, it makes our job more difficult now. Therefore, please, excuse the not-so-good photo selection in this blog post. For real good photos, please, refer to previous blogposts (2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, 2024 - Jan/Feb) for much better close-up pictures.