Cowboy Up!

Lookin’ for a rip-roarin, gut bustin, high falootin good time in Arizona?  Round up all the little buckaroos to celebrate The National Day of the Cowboy on Saturday, July 24.

Created by a nonprofit organization based in Texas, this day honors the heroes and heroines of the Old West.  With cowboy culture being a big part of our heritage, it’s only fitting that the first governor to grant the organization this proclamation was Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona in 2006.

According to the “Cowboy Code” the cowboy lives each day with courage, takes pride in his work, does what has to be done, but knows where to draw the line.  To experience firsthand what this code means and see what our Territory was like way back when, saddle up your posse and head out to a few celebrations around the state that will immerse you in the cowboy culture.

5^th Annual Shootout on Whiskey Row
Saturday, July 24 and Sunday, July 25
Prescott – Courthouse Square – Whiskey Row
8:30 am – 4 pm
Free Admission

This event has always sounded like a lot of fun!  The showdown takes place in the courthouse square (more specifically on Whiskey Row) in Prescott.  The Prescott Regulators and their Shady ladies reenact historic skits and gunfights on this main drag in downtown Prescott.  Enter the period costume contest with authentic 1800s clothing, buy cowboy gear from vendors and watch the calf ropin’ and stick horse racin’ for the little cowboys and cowgirls.  Stop by the Palace Saloon (map), the oldest frontier bar in the state opening its’ doors in 1877, for a sasparilla and a chance to see some historical artifacts.

White Mountains Roundup of Cowboy Poetry (map)
Friday, July 23 and Saturday, July 24
Blue Ridge High School Auditorium & Gym
1200 W. White Mountain Blvd., Pinetop-Lakeside
Poetry performances at 2 and 7 p.m.
Admission is $12 in advance, $15 the day of the show, $5 for age 10 and younger

There’s nothing like a good ol’ cowboy poetry reading to get you thinkin’ like you’re enjoying a good story around the campfire.  This fifth annual event features Western musician Dave Stamey, who has won numerous awards from the Western Music Association; Waddie Mitchell, the association’s male poet of the year for 2009; and cowboy poet Chris Isaacs, winner of the Academy of Western Artists’ Will Rogers Medallion Award.

Main Street’s National Day of the Cowboy
Saturday, July 24
Sedona – Main Street (map) 270 Arizona 89A, Sedona
10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
928-204-2390

Celebrate all things cowboy on Main Street in Sedona with Brandon Shepard, a singer and Hopi storyteller, gunslingers, trick ropers and whip crackers and historical re-enactments. Also on hand will be Cowboy historian and poet Jack Tennel and Sedona historian and storyteller Michael Peach.

Feeling your inner cowboy/cowgirl?  Try cowboy karaoke from 5-8 p.m. at the Uptown Mall plaza where other musical acts will perform throughout the day.  Or dress the part and compete in the Spirit of the West Outfit Contest.  Prizes for the most authentic spirit of the West outfit win!

Cowboy grub and western entertainment will take place all day with a Cowboy parade down Jordan Road, gunfights at High Noon, live performances, music, and western artists.  Here are more details.

Photo courtesy of flickr