The 18th Annual Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival to be Held November 18-20, 2016

Festival Announces its 2016 Line Up and Tickets on Sale Now

This year’s Festival is returning to the beautiful Monterey County Fair & Event Center, located just a 5-minute drive from downtown Monterey. We will enter through Gate 3 (corner of Garden Road and Fairground Road). This year we will have limited preferred parking inside the festival grounds on a first-come, first-served basis. There is also convenient free adjacent street parking with many hotels/motels, restaurants and stores located nearby in the North Fremont business district of Monterey.

The Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival proudly celebrates Monterey's contribution to our Western heritage with cowboy poetry, music and a first-class Western Art & Gear Show. The Festival brings together people from all over the United States and Canada to enjoy and learn more about the "cowboy way of life," with its culturally diverse history that includes the Vaqueros, Californios, Mexican and Spanish traditions, plus our current cowboy culture and values.

A great mix of cowboy music and poetry performances are scheduled throughout the weekend to fit all schedules and interests. You won’t want to miss this year’s outstanding line-up of multi-award-winning performers. Come experience the music, poetry and storytelling of the values of the men and women who endured, persevered and overcame adversity to build the western traditions we celebrate today.

Our program kicks off Friday night with our popular Cowboy Happy Hour where you can enjoy hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer, and mix and mingle with many of our performers and other Festival attendees. Enjoy an outstanding WLS is on the Air show that evening.

Saturday will offer five great shows: Rememberin’ Those Who have Gone On Before’; Somethin’ Old, New, Borrowed, Blue; Somewhere ‘Tween Fact and Fiction; Singing in the Saddle; and Bob Wills Is Still The King. Your day will be filled with the finest music, story-telling, poetry, and shopping you’ll find anywhere. Finish up your day with a great Saturday Night Dance featuring Rich O’Brien’s Monterey Cowboy All-Star Band!

As always, we begin Sunday with our Cowboy Church which benefits the Salvation Army, our charitable partner for 18 years and features many of the top performers of the weekend. We’ll follow this with two more shows: Guitars Only, Partie Deux; Dawn and the Dons: The Romance of Monterey.

This year, we again share and celebrate the art by artisans who draw their inspiration from the blending of cultures. The Western Art and Gear Show will be held inside the Salinas Room, located directly across from the Monterey Room where we’ll enjoy the mini performances of all of our musicians and poets. The Show will feature over two dozen artisans that offer an array of interesting items for Christmas gifts and collectors, including outstanding Western art, photography and books, clothing, (hats, jewelry, handmade belts, purses, jackets, etc.), custom and antique saddles, Navajo blankets and much more!

Our host hotel is the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel & Spa and is offering our Festival-goers a very special rate of $150 (single or double occupancy) which includes free parking if you reserve early and mention the Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival. Please call 1.888.421.1442 or go to https://resweb.passkey.com/go/ MontereyCowboyPoetry2016 to make a reservation. We will also have a shuttle available from Gate 3 to the Hyatt Regency Monterey front reception.

If you are driving your RV to Monterey, there are spaces available on the Fairgrounds property. Go tohttp://www.montereycountyfair. com/rv-park/about-the-rv-park.

2016 Schedule:
Festival Events: Monterey County Fair & Event Center

Friday, November 18, 2016
4:30-6.00pm Cowboy Happy Hour for Entertainers, Artisans, Sponsors, All-Event-Pass Holders, Ticketed Guests
West Art Room
6:00 pm Western Art and Gear Marketplace Opens
Salinas Room
7:00 pm WLS is on the Air
Monterey Room (2+ hrs.)
From Appalachia to the Oklahoma Hills: Skip Gorman (Host) & his Waddie Pals; Connie Dover with Tom Sauber; Don Edwards, Peter Rowan

Saturday, November 19, 2016
8:00 am Western Art and Gear Marketplace Opens
Salinas Room
8:30 am Rememberin’ Those Who’ve Gone on Before
Monterey Room (90 min.)
Jim Ross (Host), Ross Knox, Karen Ross, Joel Nelson, Randy Rieman
10:00 am Sign Ups for Adult Open-Mic Session
Salinas Room
10:30 am Somethin’ Old, New, Borrowed, Blue
Monterey Room (90 min.)
Juni Fisher (Host), Pamela Forman with Bruce Forman, Resident House Guitarist
Connie Dover, Janet Bailey
12:00 Kids Open Mic with hosts, Dixie Dixon & Craig Collard
Salinas Room
1:00 pm Somewhere ‘Tween Fact & Fiction
Monterey Room (90 min.)
Karen Ross (Host), Randy Rieman, Jim Ross, Joel Nelson, Ross Knox
3:00 pm Singing in the Saddle
Monterey Room (2+ hrs.)
Gene, Roy, Tex, Rex to Coop and the Duke
R.W. Hampton (Host) with Rich O’Brien, Rex Allen, Jr., Don Edwards
7:00 pm Bob Wills is Still the King
Monterey Room (2+ hrs.)
Bruce Forman (Host), with Pinto Pammy, The Hanson Family, Hot Club of Cowtown
10:00 pm Western Art and Gear Marketplace Closes
10:00 pm Saturday Night Dance
Monterey Room
Featuring Rich O’Brien’s Monterey Cowboy All-Star Band
Band members: Hot Club of Cowtown, Bruce Forman, Mike Beck, Connie Dover, The Hanson Family,
Skip Gorman and Tom Sauber. Guest Vocalists: R.W. Hampton, Juni Fisher, Calvin Hampton, Janet Bailey and Pamela Forman.

Sunday, November 20, 2016
8:30 am Cowboy Church (Free Admission)
Monterey Room (60 min+)
Don Fuselier, Sky Pilot, with Randy Rieman, R.W. Hampton, Karen Ross, Don Edwards, Ross Knox, Calvin Danner Hampton, Jim Ross, The Hanson Family and Rich O’Brien (offertory).… everything collected goes to our most worthy charitable partner for the past 18 years - The Salvation Army.
9:30 am Western Art and Gear Marketplace Opens
Salinas Room
10:00 am Guitars Only, Partie Deux
Monterey Room (2+ hrs.)
Celebrating the Release of a Companion Album - Guitars Only…… No Vocalists Allowed!
Mike Beck, With Special Guests: Bruce Forman, Whit Smith, Rich O’Brien
10:00 am Sign Ups for Adult Open Mic Session
Salinas Room
1:30 pm DAWN and the DONS: The Romance of Monterey
Monterey Room (2+ hrs.)
Juni Fisher (Host), Mike Beck, Dave Stamey
4:30 pm Western Art and Gear Marketplace Closes
Salinas Room

For more information on the 2016 performers go to http://www.montereycowboy.org/ Pages/performers.html.

Tickets are on sale and can be purchased at http://www.montereycowboy.org/ Pages/tickets.html.