john Arthur will be playing at the 11th annual Cowboy Days in Las Cruces, NM this Saturday afternoon at 2:30 pm. Tickets are only $4 so bring the whole family out for some fun and live music.
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LAS CRUCES - Get ready for a Wild West fiesta with everything from gunfight reenactments and rodeo -style events to an 1895-style wedding, plus horse shows, cowboy poets, authors and musicians, arts and crafts, demonstrations, cowpoke grub and lots more.
It's all part of the 11th annual Cowboy Days from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and March 14 at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road in Las Cruces. Last year, more than 5,000 Wild West fans attended the fiesta.
The fun starts with a chance to cowboy up with a breakfast of biscuits and gravy, sausage and scrambled eggs from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday. Tickets are $12 at the door or $10 in advance before noon Friday from NMFRHM. The breakfast fee will also cover admission to the day's events.
Saturday's entertainment roster includes headliner John Arthur Martinez and local favorites, including Guitar Greg and award-winning singer-songwriter-musicians Randy Granger and Eddy Harrison.
Austin-born singer-songwriter Martinez has shared the Grand Ole Opry stage with Carrie Underwood and Charlie Pride. He cowrote "Seguro Que Hell Yes," recorded by Flaco Jiménez, featured on Jiménez's self-titled 1994 album, which won a 1995 Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American/Tejano Music Performance.
Martinez compares his eclectic style to the menu at a Texas diner.
"There's chicken fried steak, there's chili con carne-smothered enchiladas, there's the spinach veggie omelet, there's fresh pecan pie. It all comes out of the same kitchen, just like my folk stuff, my country songs, my Latin tunes, my ballads and my rockers," said Martinez, whose latest CD is "Purgatory Road" on the Apache Ranch Records label.
Granger, Harrison and Guitar Greg will also perform March 14, along with James Michael and The Deming Fusiliers.
Go back to the golden Wild West days of yesteryear with activities like horseback and stagecoach rides and demonstrations of blacksmithing, dowsing, weaving and sewing, living history re-enactments, children's activities and crafts and more.
Watch the Back Country Horsemen, gunfight reenactments and a living history presentation of an 1895 wedding.
"The wedding will be in the form of a little play. People will be able to walk up to the characters and talk to them and go back in time," said NMFRHM spokesman Craig Massey.
He said more than 40 arts and crafts vendors will offer their wares this year. "There will be a lot of leatherwork and metalwork and other Western arts and crafts. There will also be hands-on activities for kids, including games and crafts, branding, leather stamping and more," Massey said.
A roping contest will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, with finals and an award ceremony on March 14.
"Demonstrations have always been a big part of Cowboy Days and is one of the things that make this festival unique. This year, we've added a team roping competition in our new roping arena and visitors will get to see cowboys at work in their purest form," Massey said.
There will be readings and cowboy stories and a Western author panel featuring Melody Groves, Mike Kearby, Leon Metz and John Duncklee of the Western Writers of America.
A film, "Tierra Encantado: New Mexico Cowboy," will be screened at 3:30 p.m. March 14 in the NMFRHM Theatre. Cowboys Days admission is $4 and free for kids 4 and under. For information, visit nmfarmandranchmuseum.org
© 2010 Las Cruces Sun-News.