Top Things to do at the Genoa Cowboy Festival

The annual Genoa Cowboy Festival blends star studded entertainment and Western cowboy heritage with our beautiful mountain and valley setting. Extending over three days, April 28-30, 2017 you get the chance to step back in time, unplug, and experience the old west in the heart of Carson Valley!

Cowboy shootout

Festivities begin Friday night, April 28, on the main stage with The Quebe Sisters (rhymes with maybe). When these triple-threat fiddle champions start playing and singing in multi-part close harmony, audiences are transfixed, then blown away. Watch their video of Cold Cold Heart.

Dave Stamey will continue the show with his award winning Western music. Cowboys and Indians Magazine has called him “the Charley Russell of Western Music.” Western Horseman Magazine has declared his “Vaquero Song” to be one of the greatest Western songs of all time. In 2010, 2011 and 2013 True West Magazine named him Best Living Western Solo Musician. 

Dave Stamey

Saturday April 29 brings Mike Beck to the main stage. He is an engaging acoustic solo artist who regularly performs in the United States and Europe. Western Horseman magazine recently picked "The 13 Best Cowboy Songs," and included two compositions by Mike, putting him alongside other writers such as Ian Tyson, Tom Russell, Lucinda Williams, and Gene Autry.

Following Mike, Tom Russell will take the stage. He has recorded 35 acclaimed records, and his songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Doug Sahm, Naci Griffith, K.D. Lang and many others.

Tom Russell

Saturday and Sunday Daytime Activities
  Historic Chautauqua acts
  Harmonica lessons
  Front Porch Jam Sessions
  Dutch oven cooking classes
  Cowboy Poetry performances by Randy Rieman and Tony Argento
  Ranch Tours
  Star Party at River Fork Ranch

McAvoy Lane as Mark Twain

  Come and connect with the cowboys and cowgirls who live and breathe the old west.

Native American culture demonstration

Get the full entertainment schedule and buy your tickets here.

Don't wait to plan your Genoa stay.

Can’t make it to the festival? Genoa has a lot to offer throughout the year. Click here to learn more about one of Nevada’s oldest towns

What to do at the Genoa Cowboy Festival

Lawmen - Jay Aldrich

Carson Valley's annual Genoa Cowboy Festival blends star studded entertainment and Western cowboy heritage with our beautiful mountain and valley setting. Extending over three days, the Genoa Cowboy Festival gives you the chance to step back in time, unplug, experience the old west and relax!


Nestled at the base of the Sierra Nevada in the beautiful Carson Valley, historic Genoa is the site of the Nevada’s first settlement. To this day there are working cattle ranches mere steps from the town center. Since the 19th century, cowboys have shared their work, music and stories in Nevada’s oldest town.

Borges Carriage Ride

Stroll the historic Genoa streets while enjoying the festival. All activities (with the exception of bus tours) are located within a few blocks.

Genoa or Bust!

Planning Your Genoa Cowboy Festival Trip


Celebrate the unique forms of Cowboy Music, Cowboy Poetry, Old West history, and the Western lifestyle by planning your Carson Valley trip in advance.

Nightly concerts feature up and coming acts, as well as legendary Western artists.

During the day you’ll find educational classes like dutch oven cooking and harmonica lessons. Chautauqua performers with inspiring first person stories, will introduce you to well known historic figures from bygone eras. Check out craft vendors and artisan booths throughout town and take home a piece of Western culture.  

Cowboy cooking

In addition to food vendors, there are always great restaurants in Genoa to tempt your palate. You can’t miss the chance to have a drink at the Genoa Bar and Saloon, Nevada’s oldest thirst parlor.  

Genoa Bar - Paige Turnipseed

Buy your tickets here, and be sure to make your room reservations before it's too late!

Don't Miss An Evening with Baxter Black!

Candor, Patriotism, Wit, Humor, Insight, Poetry and Charisma!!

Baxter Black is a cowboy poet, humorist, former large animal veterinarian and entertainer of the agricultural masses. As he puts it, "he has a narrow following, but it’s deep!" For over 25 years he has traveled the U.S. and Canada, scattering his wit and left-handed observations to folks looking for a bright spot in their day. When asked how many books he has written, he quotes the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "Altogether, too many.”" Over one million books and audios sold, a weekly column, a weekly radio program, a weekly television program …there's no place to hide if you live in the country!
He has poked his head above the horizon long enough to attract urban followers (gentiles, he calls them), through National Public Radio, public television, Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, Random House and USA Today.

Baxter says his life has been blessed, "I like what I do. I have a great home to come home to, a couple good horses, a few cows, a good dog, and friends everywhere I go. I’m square with God and I make a living entertaining people I care about." "My audience is my inspiration," he says, "Every cowboy, rancher, vet, farmer, feed salesman, ag teacher, cowman and rodeo hand has a story to tell, and they tell it to me. I Baxterize it and tell it back to 'em! It doesn't seem fair, does it?"

If you look around, you’re not more than one or two degrees of separation from his omni-cowboy presence! He’s kinda like a good pair of boots, a faithful cowdog, or even the flu. Try him out, he’s contagious!

You can find him in Benson, Arizona at www.baxterblack.com. He’s the real thing. Because, as he says, "You can't be what you aren't!" Baxter Black's appearance at the Carson Valley Inn is the kickoff to the Genoa Cowboy Festival on May 3 - 5.

Thursday, May 2, 2013
Doors open 6:15 p.m.
Show starts at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets: $30 each
Buy tickets NOW at the Carson Valley Inn Hotel Desk or call 775-783-6606 to order by phone.

23rd Annual Rhymers Rodeer

 

Cowboy poetry, lively music, tales of the trail, stretch-the-truth yarns and good old-fashioned cowboy fun are all part of the 23rd Annual Rhymers Rodeer in the Carson Valley Inn's Valley Ballroom on Friday and Saturday, November 19 and 20, 2010. This year's artists include cowboy poets Jim King and Jerry Bell, cowboy musician Ron Scofield and the always-clever, and sometimes irreverent western humorist, McAvoy Layne as Mark Twain.

The Rhymers Rodeer weekend includes a cocktail show on Friday, an open mic session for "all comers" Saturday morning and a dinner show on Saturday night. The Friday evening show is $30 with no-host cocktails at 7:00 p.m. and the show starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening's dinner show is $55 with no-host cocktails at 6:00 p.m., dinner at 6:30 p.m. and show time at 7:30 p.m. An open mic session will be held Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. All performances are non-smoking.


Jerry Bell has been working cow camps & guiding for over 30 years and he performs throughout the west including Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Montana & California. Jerry is a member of the Wind River Poets, Idaho Poets & Poets of Utah Associations. Ron Scofield is well known for his dedication and commitment to keeping alive the old American West. He expresses all facets of the old west through his wagon and carriage building, art work, architecture, and of course his music.


Jim King has entertained throughout the United States and Canada. His performances are exemplified by his statement "Cowboy Poetry, first of all, is the real life of a Cowboy and a Rancher. There is nothing Hollywood or Drugstore Cowboy about it.” For 20 years, in over two thousand performances from Leningrad University in Russia to C-Span, McAvoy Layne has preserved the wit and wisdom of "The Wild Humorist of the Pacific Slope" -- Mark Twain.


Rhymers Rodeer information is available on line at www.cvinn.com/rodeer including an easy-to-use form for ordering tickets and making hotel reservations at special Rhymers Rodeer rates. Information is also available through the Carson Valley Inn Sales Department at 775-783-6679. Advance ticket purchases are a must. The event is produced by Kay Fanning and Jim King.


The Carson Valley Inn (www.carsonvalleyinn.com) is located on US Highway 395 in Minden, NV near the start of State Highway 88, twenty minutes from Lake Tahoe's south shore and 45 minutes south of Reno.

The 1st Ever Genoa Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival 2010

This year will mark the first year of the Genoa Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival. There will be a myriad of activities to participate in over the weekend of April 29 to May 2. The Carson Valley Arts Council and the Town of Genoa will be hosting this anticipated event. We are excited to see all of these nationally known Cowboy poets and musicians including Waddie Mitchell, Don Edwards, Paul Zarzyski, Lacy J. Dalton, David John and the Comstock Cowboys. In addition to all of the great performances slated for this event there will be Cowboy dinners, Trail Rides and a tours of a working ranch. in fact there will be over 80 non-ticketed events, workshops and demonstrations going on all around you. All that you need is a day pass and you are in!

So come join us when the Cowboys come home to the birthplace of Nevada!