‘This Year’s Special’: 2024 Durango Cowboy Gathering Leaves a Strong Impression with Expansion

Core events return in conjunction with the new Horseback community

Organizers of the Durango Cowboy Gathering promised that the 2024 cowboy gathering would bring new, fresh experiences, and according to participants and spectators, they delivered.

Staples of Durango’s past Western Heritage Festivals, such as a children’s art and poetry competition, the Chuckwagon Breakfast and the Cowboy Parade, were held throughout the week and on Saturday.

But Saturday, the last day of the meet, began with a brand new event called Horseback Social.

Shortly after sunrise, cowboys and cowgirls began arriving on East Second Avenue, where they parked their horse trailers, registered for the parade, and headed further down Main Avenue for old-fashioned Western socializing. Just before 9:00 a.m., 48 groups had registered.

In total, the Cowboy Parade and Horseback Social featured more than 100 horses, about 190 adults and about 120 children, said Jack Turner, Durango Cowboy Gathering board member. At least several thousand participants and spectators filled the streets of Main Avenue throughout the morning.

Horseback Social is a new addition to the Durango Cowboy Gathering, allowing residents and visitors to meet and mingle with ranchers and cowboys from La Plata County.

New exhibits featuring blacksmiths and saddlers have been added. La Plata County 4-H, the national FFA organization and the Basin Rodeo team, among others, pay tribute to rural agriculture in the Durango area.

Iconic groups from Durango and La Plata County participated in the parade, including: Durango’s Cowboy Church with its accompanying fiddler and guitarists; royal southern Ute; CowBelles of La Plata County; and the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

Turner said DSNG and the Durango Cowboy Gathering worked together months ago to avoid spooking many horses with train whistles on Saturday.

“For all three morning trains, a large number of railway staff and volunteers worked at each railway crossing,” he said. “We did it for this special occasion and we are truly grateful for it.”

He said business owners and residents showed great good will to facilitate this year’s Cowboys Jamboree in Durango.

Restaurants donated hundreds of meals to volunteer event organizers, businesses volunteered to help paint street signs and roadblocks, and equipment was provided to help the Poo Patrol clean up horse waste.

Turner also said that intentionally banning political signs or themes ensured that the Durango Cowboy Gathering could focus entirely on the community as a whole.

Bayfield Belle Tree Kirkland sat comfortably just off Main Avenue with her friend in the Meadowbrook wagon, pulled by Miss Ruby, a quarter horse and Belgian cross, next to her two-year-old donkey, Emerald, driven by Wayne Peterson.

She said she adopted Emerald from a Bureau of Land Management facility in Cañon City when he was 7 months old. The burro was captured by the BLM as part of the Wild Horse and Burro program.

She said all of Kirkland’s horses and donkeys are named after gemstones.

He loves horses and does not support the killing of wild horses, so he encourages those who have the means to do their part and adopt.

“It’s my favorite event of the year. I love all the horses, I love all the people, I love celebrating the culture and heritage of Durango, at least from the cowboy side,” she said. “Of course, there are many more indigenous cultures in Durango as well. But the most important thing for me is to see everyone’s horses.”

And horses benefit just as much as humans, she said. Like dogs and cats, horses need company. The more time people spend with them, the better they behave.

Peterson, dressed as an old miner, said his character’s name was Bearclaw, the Lost Creek Miner.

“We call him other names when he’s not around,” said Roy Meiworm, dressed more elegantly in a red vest and black hat.

He said Bearclaw is a “claim jumper – he’s the one who stakes my claim and takes my gold without my consent,” and Bearclaw is preparing to be shot if he tries to take Meiworm’s gold again.

Meiworm said he usually dresses like a coal miner at the Durango Cowboys Gathering, but this year he mixed things up. In addition to the Wild West, Meiworm organizes historical tours at the Strater Hotel.

“This year is special. “It’s amazing,” he said of the cowboy gathering in Durango. “It’s one of the best.”

This year’s Durango Cowboy Gathering ended with an old-fashioned shootout on Main Avenue. Tom Dragt, who plays U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp, said he learned that the infamous Arizona bandits were plotting to rob the Strater Hotel, so he and his deputies set a trap for them.

The crowd cheered as the “shootout” began around 10:20 a.m

The Dragt actor said he traveled with a group of men many years ago and still performs every year at the Durango Cowboy Gathering and on DSNG Opening Day. From time to time, he acts in films and helps create wardrobes for other actors.

He said he likes the history of the Old West because the Old West and the railroad built Durango and its memory needs to be kept alive.

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