From the Publisher
National Day of the Cowboy July 24, 2010

Kick it up a Notch!

The National Day of the Cowboy is just four days away and there are a few important details I want to bring you up to speed on before I head over to the Autry Museum in California to take part in their National Day of the Cowboys & Cowgirls event.

We announced the recipients of the 2010 Cowboy Keeper Awards in a press release on July 19, 2010. The text of the press release is included below.

We relisted the autographed Yamaha Guitar on Ebay. The new auction ends July 23, 2010. We had bids on the previous listing, but the reserve was not met, so this time it is listed with NO RESERVE. Remember, it does have over 30 signatures, including Murphey, Jamey Johnson, Johnny Bush, Juni Fisher and Gary McMahan.

I didn't realize re-listing it would create a new item number but it did. The new item number is #330452277379. You may also search on "Jamey Johnson Yamaha" and it will come up. We really need to sell this guitar. so if you know of a collector or fans of some of these celebrities, please pass this along.

Our 2010 National Day of the Cowboy limited edition Hatch Show Print arrived just in time for the Sixth Annual National Day of the Cowboy. Also, new National Day of the Cowboy event listings have been coming in on a daily basis. I'll include a few here but if you go to our events listing on our website, you'll find a more complete list. I'll keep adding events right up to Friday night, so if you're doing something special, please send an email and let us know.

I received some very enlightening comments regarding my question in the June National Day of the Cowboy News asking why our ranches seem to be disappearing at the rate of 30,000 per year. I've posted one of the rancher's stories in the Swing Riders section.

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National Day of the Cowboy 2010 Hatch poster

What's New?

National Day of the Cowboy July 24, 2010
Kick it up a Notch!

2010 Limited Edition Hatch Show Print
Florida artist, Jim Harrison, created the boot and spur graphic for our 2010 Hatch Show print. Jim’s talent captured our attention while we were on the 2010 Elko Poetry Gathering website and saw a sample of his unique artwork in Elko's 2010 event poster. We’ve been lucky to find so many wonderful artists willing to create images for our Hatch posters each year, beginning with Jennifer Ward from Arizona in 2006 , Teal Blake from Texas in 2007, Zane Mead from New Mexico in 2008, and Christina Holmes of California in 2009.

What a remarkable poster this one turned out to be! The colors are dark purple and metallic silver. Jim Harrison's boot and spur image is split into two plates, making this our first Hatch to feature an original image in two colors.

Just as Christina Holmes did in 2009, Jim signed and numbered the first 25 posters that came off the hand-cranked printing press. If you’d like to order one of the signed posters, they are $25 each plus $5.25 S&H. Orders for signed posters are filled in the sequence in which they are received. The unsigned posters are still just $15 each. The National Day of the Cowboy theme for 2010 is “Kick it up a Notch” and we sure hope you do that.

Last year Christina Holmes provided three pieces of art, making the 2009 first NDOC poster to have more than one original image. Jim Harrison is blazing a new trail too, by creating our first poster with a color separated image.

Email orders@nationaldayofthecowboy.com to get your poster. These will go fast! Don't forget we still have 2006, 2008, and 2009 in stock too, so it's not too late to start collecting the entire set.

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Jon Chandler at the Olde Town Pickin' Parlor

Autographed Yamaha Guitar Auction back on Ebay

Guitar Fundraising Auction
Autographed Yamaha Guitar Ebay Auction #330452277379

Our new Yamaha acoustic guitar, donated and signed by singer/songwriter Jeff Connors, is back on ebay. The new auction ends July 23, 2010. This time there is NO RESERVE. Jeff is one of Chuck "The Rifleman" Connors’ sons. This guitar has been signed by country superstar and CMA award winner, Jamey Johnson, Michael Martin Murphey, The Quebe Sisters Band, Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, Johnny Bush, Joe Stampley, Johnny Lee, Jon Chandler, Gary McMahan, Jeff Connors, Billy Joe Shaver, Joyce Woodson, Leona Williams, Ron Williams, Mandy Barnett, Eddie Stubbs, Dale Watson, Bryan Kennedy, Deryl Dodd, Juni Fisher, Jeff Griffith, and Larry “Murder on Music Row” Shell. We have pictures of many of them signing it too, although a few times the camera choked when we needed it most.

The new Ebay item number is #330452277379

This guitar auction on Ebay ends July 23, 2010. 100% of the proceeds benefit the National Day of the Cowboy nonprofit organization. The winning bidder will receive the autographed acoustic guitar, a soft guitar case, photos of many of the celebrities as they signed it and a Certificate of Authenticity verifying the signatures. You may also find this guitar on Ebay by searching on "Yamaha Jamey Johnson."

There's a full description of the guitar and the signers posted on our website in "From the Publisher."

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Custom made NDOC bag by Brenda Watts

Western Mercantile

Fundraising Products
The National Day of the Cowboy flags arrived in time for shipping to events all over the country. One went to the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad in Colorado, one to the Westernaires in Denver, Colorado, and another went to the rodeo in Pretty Prairie, Kansas. Dubois, Wyoming added two to their growing collection which could mean they now have more National Day of the Cowboy flags in their community than anyone else. Hotshot Johnny also took a flag to the ranch in Lebanon and Julie Ream now has one to take along to the many western events she helps plan and attends.

Thanks to Sue Verley at City Signs in Apache Junction, Arizona, who helps us with our flag order each year.

With phone bills, internet charges, web-hosting, business cards, membership pins, printing costs, brochures, and event fees, it requires a minimum of $10,000 a year to keep this effort going. If you’re not of a mind to make a tax deductible donation to help with these expenses, consider purchasing one of our Hatch Show prints or our custom made Montana Silversmiths NDOC Buckle, a print of Cowboy Keepers, or an NDOC flag or our Rockmount silk tie. We have our eye-catching red white and blue bumper stickers in stock again too which make an economical way to help us keep going and at the same time tell the world the cowboy will have his day.

Lubbock's master leathercrafter, Brenda Watts, accepts custom orders for the National Day of the Cowboy handbag she designed and created to promote and support the NDOC. Brenda's bag can be ordered with the words "National Day of the Cowboy" or National Day of the Cowgirl on it - your call. She does all the beautiful western tooling and hand paints these stylish little bags. The latch on the front is really for a flintlock rifle! And, inside you'll find several compartments to hold all your essentials.

Enter To Win
In an effort to generate operating funds, we’re offering 150 tickets to enter a drawing to win a SET of five (5) of the National Day of the Cowboy Hatch posters, 2005-2009. That’s five fabulous NDOC limited edition posters, four of which feature exclusive original art. Tickets for the drawing are a donation of $10 each (less than the price of one poster). The drawing will be held as soon as 150 tickets are sold.

Email orders@nationaldayofthecowboy.com if you'd like to make a $10 donation to enter the Hatch drawing or purchase any of our promotional products.

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Jim Clements' art for the 2010 Cowboy Keeper Award

2010 Cowboy Keeper Award Recipients

2010 Cowboy Keeper Awards Announced
The Cowboy Keeper Award is given by the National Day of the Cowboy to those individuals and organizations that make a substantial contribution to the preservation of pioneer heritage and cowboy culture.

The five recipients selected to be recognized with the 2010 National Day of the Cowboy's Cowboy Keeper Award are Don and Sharon Endsley - Producers of the Great American Wild West Show, the Desert Cowboys - our cowboy soldiers who defended our freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan, acclaimed western singer/cowboy poet Doc Stovall, Western Jubilee Recording Company - producers and promoters of some of the finest musicians and poets in the heritage movement, and the Grant Harris Family - producers of New Jersey’s Cowtown Rodeo which the Harris family started in 1929.

Don and Sharon Endsley’s Great American Wild West Show is an entertaining, fast paced extravaganza in the tradition of Bill Cody’s Wild West productions and features some of the best western performers in the country. It’s action packed, complete with trick ropers, trick riders, chuck wagon races, stagecoach robberies, longhorns, Native American dances by the Begay Family, and historic characters like sharp shooter, Annie Oakley, and Buffalo Bill himself. The Endsley’s mission is to keep the American West alive and produce a caliber of show Buffalo Bill himself would produce in the 21st century.

Western Jubilee Recording Company, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, sets the bar for recording excellence in the world of western music and cowboy poetry. Scott O’Malley and Kathleen Collins are the dedicated ramrods for WJRC and Scott O’Malley & Associates. Not only do they produce premier cowboy and western artists like Michael Martin Murphey, Don Edwards, Waddie Mitchell, Wylie & the Wild West, and Sons of the San Joaquin, they offer intimate concerts in their classic “Warehouse Theater,” provide artist representation and booking, attend many western events, and helped start the Ride for the Brand Ranch Rodeo. They are a dynamic and highly respected duo, working tirelessly to “offer the finest in American music traditions since 1982.”

The Desert Cowboys are a unique group of brave men and women who served in the deserts of the Middle East, leaving homesteads, ranches, and farms to protect our freedom and promote freedom in foreign lands. In the superior execution of their duties, SFC Russell Anderson and his Desert Cowboys demonstrated that Cowboys are as adaptable and resourceful as ever and that the Cowboy Code is as relevant today as it was in the Old West in one's quest for a life lived with total integrity. While deployed overseas, the Desert Cowboys proudly flew their National Day of the Cowboy flag over their barracks and took time out to share their barrel-roping skills with the locals.

Doc Stovall is a native Virginian who’s been associated with music most of his life. His earliest influences include traditional music from the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountain areas of the South, handed down through generations from Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales. He’s well loved as a Western singer and cowboy poet, and was honored in 2002 as Georgia’s Official Cowboy Balladeer by the Georgia State Legislature. In 2004, Stovall was inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame, the first cowboy singer so honored. In addition, he leads discussions on the origins of traditional cowboy music and presents programs and seminars on the writing and recitation of cowboy poetry, tracing the genre to its beginnings at the back of the chuck wagon on cattle drives. Doc is a co -founder of the Cowboy Performing Arts Society and he is the Entertainment and Sponsorship Manager for the Booth Western Art Museum in Georgia, where he assists with the educational outreach program.

In 1929, the Howard Harris family started the Cowtown Rodeo in rural Salem County, New Jersey. It was suspended during World War II but resumed operations in 1955. Howard's descendents, the Grant Harris family, still present rodeo action every Saturday night, May through September, as the longest running regular Saturday night rodeo in the U.S. It’s a stop on the professional circuit and draws competitors from across the country. It is one of only two ongoing weekly sanctioned rodeos in America. Grant and Betsy Harris live on the "home ranch" and are carrying on the tradition of Cowtown Rodeo. Grant runs the daily operations while Betsy secretaries the rodeos. She is President of the First Frontier Rodeo Circuit and oversees the entire rodeo circuit in the northeast. Grant and Bets y have two daughters, Courtney and Katy. Courtney married Jake Morehead of the Three Hills Rodeo Company in Bernard, Iowa, where they continue the family’s rodeo tradition in the Midwest. Katy lives on the "home ranch" following in the footsteps of the generations before her keeping the traditions of Cowtown Rodeo alive.

The National Day of the Cowboy organization is privileged to recognize the dedication and commitment of these five recipients of its 2010 Cowboy Keeper Award. Don and Sharon Endsley, Doc Stovall, Western Jubilee Recording Company, the Desert Cowboys, and the Grant Harris family are representative of our finest, most valiant guardians of pioneer heritage and the cowboy culture.

“Simple Things," the quietly inspiring artwork chosen as the image for the 2010 Cowboy Keeper Award, is the creation of Kansas artist, Jim Clements. Jim expressed a desire to “honor the spirit of the west in all of his paintings.” This beautiful oil on canvas depicts a peaceful chuck wagon scene that says without words, "Cowboy life is good," and deftly captures on canvas that ethereal quality of the West Jim Clements envisions.

Past recipients of the Cowboy Keeper Award include Wyoming's U.S. Senator Craig Thomas, Cheyenne Frontier Days Executive Committee, the Golden Boot Organization, Arizona's U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Producer Julie Ream, the Reel Cowboys, singer/songwriter Michael Martin Murphey, Publisher Dakota Livesay, poet wrangler Margo Metegrano, and Fort Worth's Texas Trail of Fame.

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Spokesperson Lee Anderson on Concho

Spokespersons Riding the NDOC Trail

National Day of the Cowboy spokespersons "Dr." Buck Montgomery and Lee Anderson, will be representing the National Day of the Cowboy at the Shoot Out on Whiskey Row, in Prescott, Arizona, July 24-25. The Shoot Out is put together every year by the Prescott Regulators and Their Shady Ladies and benefits a nonprofit organization.

Julie Ream and Bethany Braley will be participating in the National Day of the Cowboy event at the Autry Museum in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, July 24.

Hotshot Johnny Mincks is rounding up more fans at the dude ranch in Lebanon.

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Western Connections & Bunkhouse Culture

People are getting more and more creative in their efforts to let others know there is a National Day of the Cowboy. A few days ago I received this email from Monty Harper about a podcast he and his family put together to educate their listeners about the holiday. It's thoughtful and well done, and it only takes a few minutes to listen to it.

Howdy!

My wife and I do a little podcast called "Calendar Song of the Week" where we give away a free song download connected to an upcoming calendar observance or holiday.

This week we are celebrating National Day of the Cowboy with a song called "Cowboy Dreams."

You can check it out here: http://calendarsongs.blogspot.com/

If you like the song, feel free to pass along our URL. Thanks!

Monty Harper
Award-Winning Children's Songwriter
Stillwater, OK
monty@montyharper.com

The current Cowboypoetry.com "Art Spur" invitation ends on July 20 and selected poems will be announced on the National Day of the Cowboy. In Art Spur, Cowboypoetry.com invites poets to let selections of Western art inspire their poetry - "spur" the imagination — in celebration of the National Day of the Cowboy the spur is "She's a Hand," a painting by notable Western artist Joelle Smith (1958-2005). "She's a Hand" was the image selected for the 2009 "Cowboy Keeper Award" from the National Day of the Cowboy organization. Director Bethany Braley tells that Joelle Smith's work inspired the award, which is given to "organizations and individuals who have made a significant contribution to the preservation of Western heritage."

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Swing Riders

Are we asleep on the range?
I was startled to learn from the USDA that ranches are vanishing from our landscape at about 30,000 ranches a year. When I asked, "Why?" in our previous newsletter, I received some enlightening responses. Here is just one of the distressing letters we got.

"Bethany,
I wanted to tell you a little bit about John’s ranch in Montana. Currently there are 44 acres remaining. It was, at one time, a large cattle ranch that stretched five miles in every direction from the home-place cabin.

Over the years, John’s stepdad was forced to sell portions of the land to pay taxes. I guess the government forgets where our food comes from. The last piece to go was a 100 acre parcel just steps from the front door, across our little private road. Because this is an area which abounds with huge ponderosa pines it was re-assessed as a “tree farm” and taxed as such. It was promptly put up for sale and sold to a housing developer. Now he is left with the home-place, 2 historic cabins, the barn and a 23-acre hay field. For those 23 acres to remain irrigated, and feed a small collection of cows and calves through the winter, requires a water-rights battle every single year! We have a county hired "ditch rider" who seems to find dams and rocks redirecting our #2 rights in another direction every few months. Yep – it’s still the old west in Montana!

So if you ask me where the ranches are going…I’d say, ask our government why they are choosing to eliminate ranches and farms, the source of our food, to pack more tax paying houses on that land. I could go on and on….family patriarchs passing on and kids not wanting the “hard work” so they sell the ranch, etc, etc….

It’s not too hard to see why ranches are leaving our culture once you have lived on one – if even for a few short months. I just hope that somehow we will be able to hang onto our little piece."

If you can get your hands on the Spring 2010 issue of The Cowboy Way, there is also an article there, entitled, "Why America is Losing its Ranches" by Bill Bullard, on the subject of our disappearing ranches. The special feature begins on page 29.

Help SAVE America's ranches and YOUR health-
Demand Grass Fed American Beef!

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On the Events Trails

National Day of the Cowboy events and celebrations are springing up EVERYWHERE! Here's a partial listing of some of the event notices we've received. If you can't find one you can get to, think about starting a National Day of the Cowboy tradition of your own. Every added celebration helps move the cause for a permanent Cowboy and Cowgirl day forward, whether it's held in your pasture or in a national museum.

For more details on these events, visit our website, www.nationaldayofthecowboy.org in our Events Section.

Western Heritage Show - The Westernaires
Date: Jul 23, 2010
Jefferson County, Colorado

White Mountains Roundup
Dates: Jul 23, 2010 to Jul 25, 2010
Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona

41st Annual Original Elgin Rodeo
Dates: Jul 23, 2010 to Jul 24, 2010
Elgin, Texas

Mancos Colorado National Day of the Cowboy Celebration
Dates: Jul 23, 2010 to Jul 25, 2010
Mancos, Colorado

Platte River Rodeo Association Rodeo
Dates: Jul 23, 2010 to Jul 24, 2010
Buck Springs Rodeo Grounds, Carbon County, Wyoming

Western Belle's House Concert
Date: Jul 23, 2010
32229 Rd P Mancos, CO,

Mark & Kimberlee film their first LIVE CONCERT DVD!!
Dates: Jul 23, 2010 to Jul 24, 2010
Moscow, Idaho,

Ranching & Land Stewardship In The Future
Date: Jul 24, 2010
Historic Downtown Flagstaff, Arizona

Second Annual Ohio National Day of the Cowboy Trail Ride
Date: Jul 24, 2010
Mohican State Forest, Ohio

Second Annual Cowboy Day
Date: Jul 24, 2010
Lee Wayside Village, Buckingham County, Virginia

Okechobee Heritage Day Festival
Date: Jul 24, 2010
Okeechobee, FL.

Dubois Wyoming Annual National Day of the Cowboy
Jul 24, 2010 to Jul 25, 2010
Dubois, WY

Springhouse Tack Shop's National Day of the Cowboy
Jul 24, 2010
1860 Route 119 North, Greensburg PA 15601

Scottsdale Arizona's National Day of the Cowboy
Date: Jul 24, 2010
Scottsdale AZ

Autry National Center - National Day of the Cowboy & Cowgirl
Date: Jul 24, 2010
Museum of the American West-Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California

2nd Annual Cowboys & Day Celebration Italy
Dates: Jul 24, 2010 to Jul 26, 2010
El Paso Saloon - Pantigliate (MI) - Italy

Norco California National Day of the Cowboy Celebration
Date: Jul 24, 2010
Norco, California’s George Ingalls Equestrian Event Center

El Paso National Day of the Cowboy
Date: Jul 24, 2010
El Paso Museum of History, El Paso, Texas

Durango National Day of the Cowboy
Date: Jul 24, 2010
Boot Barn western wear store, Durango Mall, Durango, Colorado

Western Belle's House Concert
Date: Jul 24, 2010
32229 Rd P Mancos, CO

Kissimmee National Day of the Cowboy Amateur Rodeo
Date: Jul 24, 2010
Kissimmee Sports Arena, 958 Hoagland Blvd, Kissimmee, Florida

Whateve you do to celebrate, we hope you have a wonderful time and you learn something new about your heritage on the National Day of the Cowboy, Saturday July 24, 2010.

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