Many people do not realize the National Cowboy Symposium & Celebration, Inc.® is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. The organization’s goal is to preserve our Western heritage and cowboy culture. We do this by producing an annual National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration® event. The 31st Anniversary event will be held September 6 thru 8 at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.
The NCSC celebrates Western heritage and cowboy culture for those who know and love it, and introduces new audiences to the heritage and culture so they may embrace it as well. The event schedule includes musical entertainers, poetry and storytelling, Western writers and authors panels, film and movie seminars, a Youth Wild West Day, horse-handling demonstrations, a horse-themed parade, Native American activities and presentations, the ever-popular National Championship Chuck Wagon Cookoff®, and exhibits of Western artworks and merchandise.
The First Edition of the National Cowboy Symposium & Celebration (NCSC) book is now available for sale to vendors and the public! Supplies are limited, so don’t miss this opportunity to own the definitive chronicle of the country’s premier Western-cowboy cultural event: and event more than two decades in the making.
The First Edition’s account of the NCSC offers a detailed history of the event’s purpose, participants, activities, and relevance to the American West. Its author is Richard Slatta, Ph.D., a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and a thirty-year professor of history at North Carolina State University. Professor Slatta is the author of nine other books, including Cowboys of the Americas (a Western Heritage Wrangler Award winner) and The Cowboy Encyclopedia (recommended as a best-reference book by both the Library Journal and the American Library Association).
Award winning novelist Elmer Kelton presents the NCSC First Edition’s nostalgic welcome. Kelton attended the National Cowboy Symposium & Celebration personally for 18 years, honoring the preservation of America’s cowboy heritage as he served on the NCSC’s Western Writers Panel. In Kelton’s words, “The cowboy has become an icon, a symbol of what has been and is still best about America.”
Often acclaimed as Mr. Cowboy Culture, NCSC founder Alvin G. Davis provides the book’s foreword. Davis’ dedication and passion for the American West are a testament to the event’s success, to say nothing of the event’s longevity, many international friends and associates, and the one-of-a-kind historical and cultural opportunities the NCSC presents each year in Lubbock, Texas.
The First Edition contains 176 pages of manuscript, interviews, and quotes on topics such as the multicultural West, equestrian activities, chuck wagons, rodeos, ranch life, musicians, artists, actors, writers, scholars, and publishers; over 200 pictures; a comprehensive twenty-year listing of American Cowboy Culture Award winners; and handsome hardcover featuring Western art by Wayne Baize.
Monica Hightower
Chair and Executive Director
Doug Criswell
Alvin G. Davis
Todd Davis
Farris Hightower
Jay Hoes
W. Calloway Huffmaker
Darrell Miller
Ron Mouser
Mike Querner
Paul Stonum
Kathy Stonum