Staff Reports
Grab your favorite cowboy hat and boots for a kickin' time at the first Genoa Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival presented by the Carson Valley Arts Council and the Town of Genoa on April 29-May 2.
The event features nationally known cowboy poets and musicians including Waddie Mitchell, Don Edwards, Paul Zarzyski, Lacy J. Dalton and the Dalton Gang, David John and the Comstock Cowboys, Dave Stamey, Larry Maurice, Richard Elloyan, Sourdough Slim Old West Trio, Cross Town Cowboys, Dennis Golden, Tom Weatherby, and Ron Scofield.
Tickets also available for pre-concert cowboy dinners each evening, a BYOH (Bring Your Own Horse) Pleasure Trail Ride on Saturday and a tour of a working ranch including lunch.
One- and two-day passes allow entrance to 80 Western related workshops and artist demonstrations. Workshops Include Chautauqua with McAvoy Layne as Mark Twain, Michael Curcio as Wyatt Earp, Don Thompson as Snowshoe Thompson, Dick Clark as Kit Carson, Chris Bayer as Major Ormsby and Lucky Bill, Dianna Borges as Sarah Winnemucca.
Day passes allow admission to storytelling, melodramas, discussions on writing cowboy poetry and on Nevada wild horses by Lacy J. Dalton of the Let 'em Run Foundation. Demonstrations include Dutch oven cooking, leather tooling, saddlery, silversmithing, cowboy gear and blacksmithing. For those interested in study of habitats and ranching, the Nature Conservancy's River Ranch will conduct a tour and talk about the compatibility of ranching and habitat conservation.
Tickets may be purchased at www.genoacowboyfestival.com or by calling 781-0150, 782-8207 or 782-8696.
Accommodation information at Carson Valley Inn, the official host hotel for the Genoa Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival.
