29th National Cowboy Poetry Gathering
Monday, February 3, 2013
Cowboy Poetry is over but the friendships continue. On a balmy Monday morning, it's a bittersweet trip to the airport to send off my sweetie Chuck back to New Zealand for several months. The parting is sweetened by an impromptu accordion serenade and mini-reunion in the airport lounge with Italian musicians Marco and Gianluca, chef Valerio, and Cowboy Celtic's Keri and Nathan. Chuck and I dance a waltz and a schottische, seeing the beaming faces of our new friends as we whirl past. As everyone heads to the plane, my mood lightens a little to see Valerio grinning ear to ear back at me. A few minutes later, still wrapped in the afterglow of the Gathering and melancholy of parting, I bask in the sun while listening to Hot Club of Cowtown and watching the aircraft take to the sky.
For those of you also suffering from "post-party depression" like me - or who missed this year and are looking forward to the 30th - you can recapture a bit of the mood on the Western Folklife Center's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/westernfolklife. And please tag your Facebook photos with Western Folklife Center, so we can see what memories you're taking home with you from the Gathering!
Written by Amy Mills, Programs Coordinator, Western Folklife Center
