Events and Shows
Elko - National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
- Jan 28, 2013 - Feb 2, 2013
- Website
- Phone: 775-738-7508
The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, the nation's greatest celebration of the American West, its people, culture and traditions, will take place January 28 to February 2, 2012, in Elko, Nevada. Every winter cowboys, ranchers, rural and urban people have traveled en masse to this small high desert community, to join with friends, family and others who care about the rural West. Together, they listen to poetry and music, learn about cowboy culture in the U.S. and around the world, experience great art, watch western films, learn a craft, and gather to eat, drink and swap stories.
Produced by the Western Folklife Center, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering was started in 1985 by a small group of folklorists and poets, and has become an annual ritual for thousands of people who value and practice the artistic traditions of the region, and are concerned about the present and future of the West. Hundreds of cowboy poetry gatherings have since taken hold across the West and the nation over the last 28 years, as the Elko Gathering has reinvigorated a tradition that never ceased to be a part of the lives of cowboys, ranchers and rural westerners. In 2000, the U.S. Senate recognized the cultural value of this tradition and the event responsible for its renaissance when it passed a resolution naming the Elko Gathering the “National” Cowboy Poetry Gathering.