Cowboy poems, music welcome Heritage addition

Through his friendship with "Cactus Chris," Walt Sehnert of McCook has developed a strong interest in cowboy poetry and song.

Sehnert, the author of the "From Days Gone By" column in the Gazette, brought Cactus to McCook for the first Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival five years ago, and now Walt is hooking up with Chris again to bring Cowboy Poets to McCook during Heritage Days.

Called the "Cowboy Poets Jamboree," the first-time event for McCook will take place Friday night, Sept. 27, at the historic Fox Theater.

Featured performers will be Cactus Chris Buethe, a cowboy poet from Las Cruces, N.M., and Mike "Indiana" Adams, a singer who formerly lived in McCook and now lives in Elkhart, Ind. They will be joined on stage by the Saggy Bottom Boys' bluegrass group from McCook and Danbury.

Cowboy poets and songwriters from this area also will have an opportunity to take part in the program.

The opportunity comes in the form of the "Our Western Heritage Cowboy Poetry and Song Contest," which is being announced in a notice on page eight of today's Gazette.

The award-winning Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival is sponsoring the jamboree and the contest in conjunction with the McCook Daily Gazette and the McCook Chamber of Commerce.

We encourage you to enter a poem or song. Through radio, television and live performances, all of us have an idea what cowboy poems and songs are like. Now it's our chance to try our hand at expressing our western heritage.

We're indebted to Walt and the Buffalo Commons Committee for bringing this event to McCook. It should be an excellent addition to the Heritage Days lineup.

Join the fun! Get out pencil and paper, hum or rhyme a few lines, then record your thoughts on paper.

The Gazette and the Buffalo Commons will be giving prizes for first, second and third places. Added to that will be the thrill of participation.

Come one! Come all! Let's celebrate our western heritage in poetry and song.