People are always preaching doom and gloom about the future of cowboys, but I'm at the Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium in Ruidoso, New Mexico and I can assure you there are plenty of mamas who are letting their babies grow up to be cowboys. Here are just a few of many families with future cowboys who came by our booth yesterday:
I believe these folks (above) are from the Amarillo area. Lots of Texans at the Symposium held annually at the Ruidoso Downs and Billy the Kid Casino. i shot dozens of these photos to take home to show to the staff. Unlike most Old West festivals where the attendees are by and large urban folk who have a passing interest in the Western lifestyle and history, in Ruidoso I would venture a guess that over 95% of the people who show up are dressed to the nines in distinctive Western wear, both male and female (especially the females!). It give us all hope who are in the biz. Here's a family that bought the Curry Saloon in Lincoln, Billy the Kid's town:
When we first bought True West magazine, Bob McCubbin and I considered buying the Curry Saloon and making it our headquarters, but we were advised by a builder it would cost $100,000 just to bring the property up to code. The new owners agreed with the number. Ha.
Here's a very pretty chuckwagon mama and her little cowboy.
The Cowboy Symposium has the largest chuckwagon cook off in the world with a couple dozen chuckwagons competing for the best grub. The festival has a ton of Western music and I totally dug these young musicians looking a bit like Bob Wills' boys:
There are many new styles of hats and boots and ways to wear pants and this is always cool to see. Here is a young buck with a bushy beard going (check out those boots) and he's got two future cowboys in the low rider:
The venerable and legendary Fred Nolan is in town and we had dinner last night. Pics and tall tales to follow.
"Well, it's up against the wall redneck mother. . ."
—Jerry Jeff Walker
