National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
Every January thousands of cowboys, ranchers, musicians, and craftspeople journey to the high-desert town of Elko, Nevada, for the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. The festival features six days of poetry, music, dancing, and folk art exhibits, as well as numerous workshops on everything from storytelling and rodeo swing dancing to rawhide braiding and spit cooking. This year the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering turns thirty-five, and for many of the performers and participants who return annually, it will be a time to celebrate, ref lect, and honor the past—and, as usual, to share poems and tell stories.
The first Gathering, coordinated by Elko’s Western Folklife Center,
