Genoa Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival

As oart of our week long trip to the Lake Tahoe area, we went to the Genoa Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival. This event is awesome. We went to opening night at the Carson Valley Inn; Baxter Black left us laughing during his over hour long act; he has such great cowboy stories that leave you laughing. On Friday we went to the festival — food booths; speaking events; and music. We spent most of our time listening to the top notch cowboy western music at the large tent at Mormon Park. Good groups. We also went Saturday and went to see the Grammy award winning group Riders in the Sky.
They also had some great events we did not go to such as ranch visits and horse riding events as well as nightly special dinners.
If in the area (i.e.Taho, Reno, Genoa etc.) when this event is going on, stop by and see this top notch event. This was the 4^th year and well worth the small price of admission.

Did you ever stand on the ledges
On the brink of the great plateau,
And look from their jagged edges
On the country that lay below?
When your vision met no resistance
And nothing to stop your gaze
Till the mountain peaks in the distance
Stood wrapped in the purple haze
— Bruce Kiskaddon’s A Time to Decide
Gayle and I had a lot of fun at the 2011 Genoa Cowboy Poetry and Music Festival. We go to Candy Dance (in the Fall) as well, but I find this event less crowded, more authentic, and more culturally and historically fascinating. Perhaps the Mother’s Day weekend scheduling suppressed the attendance numbers a bit and maybe the 2012 event (April 26 – 29) will be better subscribed.
Various events are scattered throughout the Genoa town site and it was fun to find them all. We bought a Day Pass, while tickets are required for various musical acts (such as The Saddle Cats and All Hat and No Cattle), evening dances and BBQ and Basque dinners. We particularly enjoyed Ken Garner’s Poetry at the Town Hall, Kit Carson’s self-​history talk at the Fire Department Loft, and Billie Rightmire’s Genoa history lesson (with Gayle’s Mom occasionally chiming in) at the Trimmers Outpost Annex. In between were various artists and crafts persons (some with colourful names such as the Quiet Woman Cattle Company) and good food and drink. The weather was also on the cool side which made it even more comfortable to wander around for as long as we wanted.
There’s a lot of ranching and cultural heritage in this area and sometimes that gets lost in the nearby suburban sprawl and resort communities. Thank You Genoa for the occasional reminder to where some of us are from.