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Music and craft for Cowboy Christmas

The Museum of the Cariboo Chicotin’s 10th annual Cowboy Christmas event takes place on Nov. 22 at the Gibraltar Room.
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Wesley Hardistry

Pat Skoblanuik

Special to the Tribune/Advisor

The Museum of the Cariboo Chicotin’s 10th annual Cowboy Christmas event takes place on Nov. 22 at the Gibraltar Room.

As in the past, there will be a trade/craft show during the day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Vendors will be selling their hand-made crafts that make ideal Christmas gifts.

A popular event during the afternoon is the open mic where people are invited to take the stage and show off their talent.

There will be food and refreshment available all day.

There is no admission to get into the Gibraltar Room during the trade fair.

Following the afternoon events an evening concert will be held starting at 7 p.m. in the Gibraltar Room.

Two exciting performers, new to Williams Lake audiences, will be entertaining this year along with two familiar favourites.

Just 13, cowboy poet, Jayden Stafford has already travelled throughout B.C. and parts of Alberta performing.

He won the Rising Star Showcase at the Kamloops Cowboy Festival in 2011.

Since then he has performed on the Mainstage at Kamloops.

Jayden lives with his family on a small hobby farm near Dawson Creek.

Life on the farm inspires him to write his own poetry.

Not to be missed is Wesley Hardisty, a show-stopping fiddle player.

He also plays guitar and sings and composes his own music.

He began his career at 13 years of age in his hometown of Fort Simpson, NT.

He is largely self-taught but in the North West Territories he attended the Kole Crook Fiddle Association camps and now teaches with the association.

At 15 years of age, Wesley moved to Salt Spring Island and attended the Gulf Island School of Performing Arts.

His passion for music is evident in his unique blend of rock, folk, Celtic and Metis music.

Now, at age 20, Wesley has played hundreds of gigs including a performance for the Royal couple Will and Kate at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

His first CD won the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Award for Best Fiddle CD. He is working on a new release for 2014.

Ever popular Alan Moberg will entertain the audience with his cowboy, country and folk songs.

Alan is no stranger to the Cariboo Chilcotin and his western roots are evident in his songs that tell the stories and celebrate the life of ordinary men and women.

He was born on the Sunshine Coast in Pender Harbour and is known as “The Saltwater Cowboy.”

Alan has had a long friendship with the First Nations people and was adopted into the Gitskahan Killer Whale Clan of Kispiox, B.C.

He has won numerous awards including an award by BMI for outstanding contribution to Canadian music and was inducted into the BC Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

Alan’s concerts are toe-tapping, uplifting and joyous.

His Williams Lake Stampede song that he wrote and performed in 1972 is still popular in the Cariboo and is featured on at least one of his 16 CDs.

Bruce Rolph always delights the audience with his poems based on everyday life in a rural setting.

Bruce and his wife, Lonnie, have a cow-calf operation on their ranch in the Horsefly area.

He has been sorting cattle at the stockyards in Williams Lake since the mid-1980s where he has garnered unique material for his humorous poems.

As well, his experiences as a community volunteer, a rodeo competitor and a rodeo judge have all contributed to his stories.

Tickets for the concert are $15 each and are available at the museum and at the door.