15th Annual Kamloops Cowboy Festival
by Mark McMillan

What was the best part of the 15th Annual Kamloops Cowboy Festival? I guess my answer has to be the whole Festival ... there was so much, and everything seemed to be at the top of someone's list. It was four days of good cowboy entertainment, shopping, looking, and socializing, all of which seemed to be nothing but fun. Maybe that's why two tour buses from Alberta show up for the weekend.

The Country 103 Rising Star Show Case was very popular and every time I looked at the audience seated in front of the stage there wasn't a seat to be had. This carried right through to the finals on Sunday on the main stage - it was packed, and with no wonder as the talent was super. The kids pulled it off in both the poet and musician categories, with 16 year old Kristyn Harris from Texas winning as a singer, and 9 year old Jayden Stafford, from Fort St John taking the top spot as a Cowboy Poet. The scores were so close!!

The BC Cowboy Hall of Fame inductions were Friday night. The Joe Marten Memorial Award, the Art of the West Show and Sale placings, and the BC Cowboy Heritage Society Student Scholarships were all announced Saturday night, making for two very memorable evenings for a lot of folks. (See the results below.)

The Festival Trade Show was full - lots of booths with something for everyone. Art, photos, saddles, tack, home décor, authors with their books, jewelry, western wear, wool blankets, metal art, iron work, collectibles, hats, horse minerals, and even horse cookies! If you missed getting your purchase check the web site www.bcchs.com to see if you can find the information you need.

Entertainment started off on Thursday and carried on through till Sunday night. As well as the four stages at the Festival itself, eight other locations around Kamloops had performers doing sets this year. There were also ten different workshops going on at the Festival - song and poetry writing, bass guitar, vet stories, and "Reel cowboys of Western Film".

Here are the winners of some of the many awards presented at the Festival:
In the art show - Saddle makers - 1st and 2nd went to Darcy Kabatoff and 3rd to Bob Kaufman. The amateur saddle maker 1st place ribbon went to Cody Tippe. In Sculpture, 1st place went to Linda Kelly and both 2nd and 3rd went to Nancy McMinn. The photography section saw Liz Twan take 1st, Kim Taylor 2nd, and Abby McNeish 3rd. Gena LaCosta (this year's poster artist) took home the ribbon for both 1st and 2nd in the flat art work, Danielle Sanders took 3rd, and Lesley White received People's Choice.
Student Scholarships
Alicia Blimkie won the written work section, Kolbey Coates won the cowboy crafts section, and Caitlin Forsyth won the art section.
Rising Star Showcase
For musicians Kristyn Harris came out on top with Almeda Bradshaw and Tim Ross as runner ups. Jayden Stafford took 1st and the runner ups were Frank Ritcey and GaLynne Millard in the Cowboy Poetry division.