My husband and I enjoyed an outing to the 15th annual Kamloops Cowboy Festival this past weekend.
It provides a compact package of a real variety of musical and spoken entertainment, dining, shopping (trade show/Kamloops) and visiting (encountering many acquaintances from far and wide) — all rolled into a three-day mini-vacation, not too far from home.
As you may surmise, much of the entertainment is country-themed; musicians and poets spin out songs, stories and rhymes that speak of ranching/cowboy experiences with a few notable exceptions such as a hilarious new Frank Gleeson poem about a non-traditional agricultural cash crop (marijuana).
Another was California singer Belinda Gail with her stunning rendition of Amazing Grace.
Local tradespeople and groups at the trade fair included Cariboo Saddlery, Bar 0 Seven Ironworks, Cariboo Outback, GreyWolf Metal Art, BC Rodeo Association and the Museum of the Cariboo-Chilcotin.
Retired guide-outfitter/team roper Bob Kjos — who hails from the Fort St. John area, but is known to many B.C. rodeo cowboys — was selling his self-published book Horseshoe in My Hip Pocket, Lucky Again, about his lifetime in the guide-outfitting business in Alberta and B.C. I bought it, have read it already and quite enjoyed the story.
Another highly entertaining feature is the Country 103 Rising Star Showcase featuring two talent divisions, one for musicians and one for cowboy poets, and the array of talent is amazing.
The contestants perform daily at the trade show (musicians) and the Calvary Church (cowboy poets).
The 2011 winners were both talent-loaded youngsters; Jayden Stafford, a nine-year-old cowboy poet from Fort St. John, who lives on a hobby-farm, pocketed the $1,000 top poetry-prize and the musical money ($1,000 Canadian). Jayden flew home to McKinney, Texas with 16-year-old Kirstyn Harris, who says she “sings to the goats and cows” as she milks them back home on the family ranch. Lucky critters!
A rancher’s holiday, another good show!
