Durango Cowboy Gathering organizers promised a fresh new experience for the 2024 cowboy gathering, and according to participants and spectators, they delivered.
Staples of Durango’s previous Western heritage festivals, such as the children’s art and poetry contest, chuckwagon breakfast and Cowboy Parade, all made appearances throughout the week and on Saturday.
But Saturday, the last day of the gathering, started off with a brand new event dubbed the Horseback Social.
Shortly after sunrise, cowboys and cowgirls started appearing on East Second Avenue where they parked their horse trailers, registered for the parade and continued onto Main Avenue for some old-fashioned Western socializing. Just before 9 a.m., 48 groups had registered.
The Cowboy Parade and Horseback Social featured more than 100 horses and about 190 adults and about 120 children combined, Durango Cowboy Gathering board member Jack Turner said. At least several thousand participants and spectators packed the streets of Main Avenue over the course of the morning.
The Horseback Social is a new addition to the Durango Cowboy Gathering, allowing residents and visitors to meet and mingle with La Plata County ranchers and cowpokes.
New exhibits featuring blacksmiths and saddlemakers were included. La Plata County 4-H, National FFA Organization and Basin Rodeo Team, among others, exhibit homages to the Durango area’s rural agriculture side.
The parade featured iconic Durango and La Plata County groups, including but not limited to: Durango’s Cowboy Church, complete with a violinist and guitarists stringing away; the Southern Ute Royalty; the La Plata County CowBelles; and Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.
DSNG and the Durango Cowboy Gathering worked together months ago to avoid spooking the many horses on Saturday with the railroad’s train whistles, Turner said.
“We had multiple railroad staff and volunteers at every railroad intersection for all three morning trains,” he said. “It was done for this special occasion and we’re really thankful for that.”
He said business owners and residents turned out in a great showing of good will to facilitate this year’s Durango Cowboy Gathering.
Restaurants donated hundreds of meals to volunteer event facilitators, businesses volunteered time to help paint street signs and traffic blockers, and equipment was provided to help the Poo Patrol clean up horse manure.
Turner also said that intentionally forbidding political signs or themes ensured the Durango Cowboy Gathering could focus entirely on the community as a whole.
Bayfield Belle Tree Kirkland was sitting comfortably just off Main Avenue with a colleague in a meadowbrook cart pulled by Miss Ruby, a quarter horse and Belgian cross, beside her 2-year-old burro, Emerald, handled by Wayne Peterson.
She said she adopted Emerald from a Bureau of Land Management holding facility in Cañon City when it was 7 months old. The burro was captured by the BLM as part of its Wild Horse and Burro Program.
All of Kirkland’s horses and burros are named after gemstones, she said.
She loves horses and she doesn’t support how many wild horses are slaughtered, so she encourages those with the means to do their part and adopt.
“This is my favorite event of the year. I love all of the horses, I love all of the people, I love celebrating Durango’s culture and heritage, at least on the cowboy side of it,” she said. “Obviously, Durango has a lot more Indigenous cultures as well. But for me, it’s all about seeing everybody’s horses.”
And the horses benefit just as much as the people do, she said. Just like dogs or cats, horses need to socialize. The more time people spend with them, the more well behaved they are.
Peterson, dressed as an old miner, said his character’s name is Bearclaw, the Lost Creek Miner.
“We call him other names when he isn’t around,” said Roy Meiworm, dressed more elegantly with a red vest and black hat.
He said Bear Claw is a “claim jumper – that’s him coming into my claim and taking my gold without my permission,” and Bear Claw is fixing to get shot if he tries to claim Meiworm’s gold again.
Meiworm said he also usually dresses as a miner for the Durango Cowboy Gathering, but this year he mixed things up. Outside of the Old West, Meiworm gives history tours at the Strater Hotel.
“This year’s exceptional. It is awesome,” he said of the Durango Cowboy Gathering. “This is one of the best ones.”
An old-fashioned shootout on Main Avenue helped complete this year’s Durango Cowboy Gathering. Tom Dragt, playing the part of U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp, said he caught wind of the infamous Arizona Bushwhackers concocting a plot to rob the Strater Hotel, and he and his deputies set a trap for them.
The crowd cheered as the “shooting” commenced around 10:20 a.m.
Dragt, an actor, said he traveled with a group of men years ago and still does shows for the Durango Cowboy Gathering and opening day for DSNG every year. He occasionally does film acting and helps create wardrobes for other actors.
He said he enjoys Old West history because the Old West and the railroad built Durango, and its memory has to be kept alive.
cburney@durangoherald.com
