Western Folklife Center
Downtown Elko · Elko, Nevada
The Western Folklife Center in Elko is internationally known as the home of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering — the annual winter festival that since 1985 has drawn cowboy poets, musicians, and ranch hands from across the American West to celebrate the living traditions of ranching culture. The Center's gallery and exhibition program extends this mission year-round, presenting folk art, craft, photography, and material culture from the working landscapes of the West — saddles, spurs, quilts, and paintings made by and for people who work the land. In an era of rapid cultural change, the Western Folklife Center performs an essential function: keeping the living arts of the American West alive and connected to the communities that created them.
