(Seguin) — Around the campfire is exactly where you want to be to jumpstart your weekend. Tickets are still on sale for this year’s South Texas Cowboy Gathering & Western Music Festival. The two day event kicks off Friday night with the annual Campfire at the Irma Lewis Seguin Outdoor Learning Center.
Steve Koehler, one of the coordinators of the festival, says Friday is literally a night of being under the stars and enjoying the sounds of some of the best Western performers in the country. He says they’ll be singing and bringing stories about “cowboys, legends of the Old West and the lifestyle of modern day ranchers” to Seguin.
“The gates open at 6 p.m. and then we will kick off at the Chuck Wagon and Campfire about 7 p.m. and at that, Kirk will have all of his singers lined up — all of his cowboys and cowgirl singers lined up and we will be serving beans and biscuits and coffee and then afterward, Mike Hallmark will be doing different types of cobbler, peach and apple cobbler and all of that is free to the guests that come and then while we are doing that, Kirk will be lining up our cowboy singers like I said. They are from all over. They are from California, Montana, Wyoming, the Texas Hill Country, of course and these folks will perform Friday evening and then we will have an open mic at the end of the evening so it will be a cowboy deal. Of course, I love that type of thing and we will have our chuck wagon set up and ready to go,” said Koehler.
Kirk Herbold is also one of the coordinators for the annual Cowboy Gathering. Herbold says Friday night is designed to showcase all of the artists that will be playing throughout the weekend. He says it’s more of a low key but high quality arena for raw cowboy talent.
“So, you will get to hear maybe two or three songs from each of the artists as we go through that night and then when we conclude that, then we also have some different cowboy poets. We’ve got others that will come and do pickin’ and grinnin’ for the open mic night. We’ve actually got some young youth poets coming all the way from Amarillo I believe that are going to come perform at the mic night so it’s always fun when you see the young ones who are actually involved in it too. It really makes it more fun. It will be good food. It will be good music and it’s just kind of a really laid back easy night to sit out underneath the stars and listen to cowboy music with the campfire burning behind you,” said Herbold.
Tickets for Friday are $20 each and will be sold at the gate. The ticket price does include the cost of biscuits and beans. Saturday’s music line-up and entertainment will continue throughout the day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 each. There is no cost for children 17 and under.
This year’s featured Show and Dance kicks off at 7 p.m. Saturday with a Cowboy Social. Live music will feature the Texas JAMM Band. The band features members of George Strait’s “Ace In The Hole” Band. Tickets are $25 in advance and can be purchased at Keepers, Gift & Gourmet, The Koehler Company or at the SOLC (9 a.m. to 1 p.m). Tickets at the gate will be $30.
Seating will be provided but guests are still encouraged to bring their lawn chairs. RV sites will also be available on site for the two day event.