The 20th Annual Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering will take place August 16 through 18 at the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Yavapai College Performance Hall in Prescott, Arizona. Gathered Up is the theme of this year's event.

The Gathering presents cowboy storytelling in verse and song, Western harmony bands, cowboy singer/songwriters, and cowboy traditions—from the latest range-country styles to fine art of the West—in a mix that is refreshingly different and delightfully entertaining. For people coming from Arizona's cattle culture, the Gathering offers renewal through familiar, traditional, and much-loved art forms.

For city folks, the Gathering offers a chance to experience the Arizona cowboy's life through his own eyes and in his or her own carefully crafted words. The Gathering is entertainment and eye-opening education presenting one hundred poets, reciters and old -time singers who keep alive the working cowboy's oral traditions by writing, reciting and singing narrative poetry about their lives on the Arizona range.

Celebrated professionals will be on hand to provide the very best of cowboy entertainment: Don Edwards from Hico, Texas will headline the 7:30 pm evening show on Thursday with Featured Poets Vess Quinlan and Marge Tucker, together with several special guests. Friday night's 8:00 pm performance presents Jean and Gary Prescott, with Featured Poets Audrey Hankins, Yvonne Hollenbeck, Gail Steiger and special guest poets.

Saturday's 5:00 pm performance will present Ken Moore and Roughstring from Animas, New Mexico, and Featured Poets Homer Bryant, Randy Huston, and Carole Jarvis, with special guest poets. Saturday's 8:00 pm performance will showcase the western harmony band Desert Sons with Featured Poets Kip Calahan, Gary Robertson and R. P. Smith, and special guests.

All evening performances will be held at the Yavapai College Performance Hall, 1100 E. Sheldon, Prescott, Arizona. These shows were almost sold out last year, so it is recommended that tickets be purchased in advance. Center stage of the Gathering is reserved for the real working-cowboy poets who represent the best of authentic cowboy storytelling traditions. The twelve Featured Poets on the evening shows have been chosen from over one hundred applicants. Special Guests on the evening shows include poets and musicians who graced the Gathering over the last nineteen years.

The Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering offers a mix of events. This year's Special Theatre Presentations will be on Saturday from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm in the Historic Elks Opera House in downtown Prescott. Four special presentations will be showcased. Admission is $10.00 at the door, first-come, first served, and guests can stay as long as they choose—from one to four hours; there is no reserved seating.

Formal evening shows take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in the Yavapai College Performance Hall. Free daytime sessions Friday afternoon and all day Saturday take place at the Sharlot Hall Museum—with as many as nine different small sessions going on at any time. A reception at the Phippen Museum Friday at 5:00 pm is free and open to all; it offers a great show of Western art, entertainment by Joe Baer, Bill Snow, Jr., and Gail Starr and light
refreshments.

Reserved seat tickets for the evening shows are only $16 and may be ordered by calling the Yavapai College Community Events box office, toll free, at: 1.877.928.4253. The Museum is located at 415 W. Gurley Street, Prescott, Arizona 86301. For further information and a full schedule of Gathering events, visit www.sharlot.org, or call Barbara Cook at 928.445.3122 ext 18. We welcome media participation in this event.

The Gathering is presented by the Sharlot Hall Museum, the Las Vegas Ranch, and the Hassayampa Inn, additional funding from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and from the Prescott Area Arts and Humanities Council.