Cowboy Up!

If you read my last post, I talked about the Genoa Cowboy and Music Festival briefly.  It was three days of art, music, food, poetry, workshops and fabulous weather to crown the first annual event.  Ron and I worked our respective shops for the duration of the weekend and weren't able to participate or view alot of the events, but there was a kickoff party held all over town so we got a good feel for what was happening then.  We met scores of interesting and talented people, our shops were packed for the duration, I don't know if the town made any money but I would call the event a smashing success.  No bar room fights, though the potential was certainly there with the influx of Cowboys, Indians, Bikers and whiskey.  I shot some pics of some of the interesting faces about town when I could.  This event kicked off Thursday afternoon, went through day and night of Friday and Saturday....ended with Cowboy Church (!) and a pancake breakfast at the Masonic Hall....My sorry little batch of pictures doesn't even begin to touch what was going on....re-enacted gunfights in the middle of town while volunteers zip around in golf carts.  It was a very carnival like atmosphere, but truly different than the huge Arts and Crafts Fair we have every year.

Having a town full of interested, informed, zealous folk who love history, the old west, expressing themselves via their craft - be it sculpture, paint, textiles, jewelry, saving wild horses, leather tooling, re-enacting, music, poetry....was refreshing, invigorating, and sales weren't bad either! 

Simple pleasures, having your own picture taken with an adorable pony.  I wish I had gotten pictures of the blacksmith, the Indians weaving, beading and dancing, the wool spinners, there was so much going on and I had to miss much of it.  Next year, I'll get someone else to mind the store.