The Cowboy Gathering offers much to Durangoans, most of it at no charge. There is the Saturday morning motorless parade on Main Avenue, featuring mostly horses and horse-drawn carts and carriages. There are visits by cowboy poets to area schools. This year, there was a small model horse show at the Strater Hotel and a symposium on cowboy horsemanship. But the heart of the gathering is the poetry.
Organizers offer a variety of free daytime sessions and paid nighttime performances.
But some cowboy poetry is moving in its innocence. And the corn is part of the charm. Cowboy poetry is an art form unlike any other. For the most part, it is family entertainment, although audiences last weekend and in previous years have been predominantly older. Run entirely by volunteers, the Durango Cowboy Gathering celebrates a rough but romantic way of life.