The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is a week-long celebration of life in the rural West, featuring the contemporary and traditional arts that arise from lives lived caring for land and livestock.

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering – America’s quintessential event honoring the western cowboy –  turned 25 in 2009. From January 24 to 31, the small community of Elko, Nevada, overflowed with thousands of cowboys and cowgirls, poets and musicians, artisans and scholars, rural people and city folks, in town for a grand celebration of the region’s ranching and rural culture. 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 24 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.

The next National Cowboy Poetry Gathering will be January 23-30, 2010. 

To apply to perform at a National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, click here. The Western Folklife Center is always interested in learning about new artists and keeping in touch with friends, and all submissions from cowboy poets and musicians will be considered for a National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

For highlights of the 25th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and to see other activities that may go on in Elko during the Gathering, click here. To watch cybercasts of the most recent performances, click the Gathering Cybercast button above, on the right.

For more information about the history of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and cowboy poetry as a traditional art form, click here . View a bit more about the Gathering by watching our promotional video;

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Read the 25th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering brochure: download it in PDF format.This brochure includes basic information about ticketed workshops and shows for 2009 only. For a full schedule of all events that were available to purchasers of a Deluxe Pass or Day Pass for the 2009 Gathering, click here.