We humans, loving stories like we naturally do, often mythologize figures from the past, from knights of yore to adventurers to people who built cities from the ground up.
But one of the biggest figures we respect, daydream about, and construct lofty tales around is the cowboy, one of the rare examples of someone who exists both as a fanciful character from times gone by and a factual person from today.
It's a funny thing, keeping a boot in both worlds, but cowgirls and cowboys do it well. They are, in fact, the stars of Day of the Cowboy and Cowgirl, The Autry's annual whoop-di-doo that both spotlights famous spur-wearers and lets us non-ten-gallon-ers play in the role, if only for a few hours.
It's set for Saturday, July 27 at the Griffith Park institution, and, like past Cowboy Days, it'll be as full and bubblesome as a crock of hot beans over a campfire.
The list is long, and simply saying "check" after each to-do doesn't feel quite right. So we'll instead say yeehaw after each entry. Shall there be cowboy poetry? Yeehaw! Square-dancing? Yeehaw! Gene Autry himself up on the big-screen in a rootin', tootin' double-feature? Yeehaw! Will there be the decorating of horseshoes? Yeehaw!
And are attendees encouraged to dress up in their own chaps and neckerchiefs? Lasso snap! (We didn't want to overuse "yeehaw," so we opted to go with the classic snapping sound a perfect lasso makes while spinning through the air. Hope that is OK by you.)
Little cowpokes are definitely invited, as well as big cowpokes wanting to know more about the history of the West (something little cowpokes should get to know, too, of course).
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Cost? Museum admission is all. That's current currency, not gold nuggets you might have found out in the hills during your last trail ride. Just to be clear on that.
