The seventh annual Cowboy Christmas presented by the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin will take place Nov. 26 in the Gibraltar Room at the Cariboo Memorial Complex.
This is the major annual fundraiser for the museum. We would like to thank the businesses and community for supporting this event in the past and look forward to their continuing support.
A trade show beginning at 10 a.m. will feature vendors with Cowboy/Western hand- crafted items to sell.
There is no admission for the trade show. Starting at noon, an open mic will be in session where anyone will be welcome to perform for the audience. Folks can come early, check out the variety of vendors, get lunch at the concession, get tickets for the evening concert and enjoy the open mic performances until 4 p.m. when the trade show winds up. The concert will start at 7 p.m. Tickets for the concert are $15 each and are available in advance at the museum or at the door. There is a great line up for this year’s concert.
Award-winning Alan Moberg, legendary Canadian performer and songwriter, will be entertaining with his beautiful songs reflecting life on the land and sea, on Interior ranchlands in the Cariboo and on the coast of the Pacific.
Moberg has western roots but now lives on Salt Spring Island and is known as the Saltwater Cowboy.
He was inducted into the B.C. Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008 for his extensive body of original and moving songs with traditional western themes. He is well known in this area for his classic folk song Williams Lake Stampede. He is host of his own radio show, The Alan Moberg Show, and has released 16 recordings over four decades of music and song. Moberg will be singing some songs from his latest release, Christmas on the Island, which includes Cariboo Christmas.
Also in the line-up is Williams Lake rancher Frank Gleeson, known as the fastest, funniest, cowboy poet in the west. His original poems are delivered in an easy going, humorous style. Gleeson is a favourite with audiences across Canada and the U.S.
He was recognized by the 2003 city council when he was declared “official poet of Williams Lake.”
On several occasions, Gleeson has been nominated by the Academy of Western Artists to receive the Will Rogers Award for male cowboy poet of the year. His songs and poems have been played on radio and television throughout Canada, the U.S. and Europe. In March 2010, Gleeson was inducted into the B.C. Cowboy Hall of Fame in the artistic category. He writes all his own material and has five books of poetry and has recorded four CDs.
Another local favourite, Rossetta Paxton, has been entertaining Williams Lake audiences for decades. She grew up with a musical background and started dancing and singing early in her life. She learned to play guitar and chose it as the instrument to accompany her vocals.
Paxton has played in country and western bands, the old-time fiddlers group and performed solo. Paxton has two CD releases to her credit, Rossetta & Friends and Looking Back. She will be performing with well- known guitarist Randy Pokeda at the concert.
Pokeda is an accomplished musician and plays a variety of instruments. He plays dobro guitar and sings harmony vocals. Pokeda is also a producer, writer, studio musician and recording artist with two CDs, Mixing it Up and Dobro Express to his credit. He has his own recording studio Harmony Productions.
Stanley Stump, popular entertainer in Williams Lake and the Chilcotin, will be in the line-up at the concert. Growing up in the Chilcotin, he learned to play guitar and sing as a young boy. Music has been a way of life for him.
He sang and played in a band with Morris Bates early in his career. Stump writes some of his own songs and sometimes puts his own words to other’s songs. He is well known in hockey and rodeo clubs as a supporter of his children and grandchildren, an active volunteer and a frequent entertainer at year-end banquets. He was named grand chief by the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs in recognition of his 25-year involvement with the association. Stump has one recording.
All of the performers will have their CDs for sale at the concert.