Booth To Celebrate Cowboy Life, Debut Art

To celebrate the music, food and poetry of the American cowboy, Booth Western Art Museum is gearing up to play host to 3,000 visitors during its ninth-annual Southeastern Cowboy Gathering, set for March 8 to 11.

Crowd favorites include chuck wagon and Dutch oven cooking contests, and new to this year's four-day offering is a mandolin, guitar, fiddle and banjo competition.

Fairplay Cattle Co., an event staple with its chuck wagon, also will offer Friday night cowboy music and poetry at no additional charge along with coffee, hot chocolate and dessert for a nominal fee.

Director of Marketing Tara Currier said the unique addition will give visitors the feel of real cowboys who sat around a camp fire, reciting poetry, singing and playing instruments to pass time as they traveled out west, The Daily Tribune News reports.

While Saturday holds a variety of family events, including the Southeastern Chuck Wagon Cook-Off in which visitors for $12 can sample food prepared as it was during the cattle drives of the 1800's, four-time Grammy winning country music artist Marty Stuart highlights a Saturday night concert.

In addition to Cowboy Church and a new double-elimination horse shoe tournament, cooking continues Sunday with a Dutch Oven contest.

"We hope to bring the artwork and museum to life for people, particularly for this event that includes our two cooking contests," Executive Director Seth Hopkins told the newspaper, adding art in the museum depicts cooking and survival on the plains.

Two new art exhibits are set to open during the festival—The Iconic West of R. Tom Gilleon by featured artist Tom Gilleon and American Legacy: Our National Parks, On Location with the Plein-Air Painters of America.

"Born in Florida in 1942, Gilleon was raised by his grandparents, a Scottish immigrant and a full-blooded Cherokee. His yard, covered with sand as opposed to grass, was where he first began sketching and drawing," according to the Booth press release. "Attending the University of Florida, Gilleon took courses in architecture and later served as an illustrator for NASA’s Apollo Space Program, which helped him to refine his discipline and focus.

"He eventually became a freelance artist and worked for The Walt Disney Corporation sketching designs for Disney World theme park. Since falling in love with Montana during an art workshop in the 1980s, he and his wife have made their home on a 2,000 acre farm near Great Falls. There Gilleon uses teepee rings from long ago and his reflections on what life might have been like years ago as inspiration for his artwork."

For Cowboy Gathering's full schedule, see our event listing.