Celebrate national day of cowboy

Boots and spurs for CM Russell Museum

Put on your cowboy boots and hat, round up the family, and bring them down to the C.M. Russell Museum to enjoy Saddles & Spurs.

This annual free event celebrates the National Day of the Cowboy and will be held on Saturday, July 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the museum’s outdoor sculpture garden.

Activities include cowboy-themed food, kids’ crafts, music, and artist demonstrations, including Tom Gilleon, Ron Ukrainetz, Echo Ukrainetz, Steven Oiestad, Robert Spannring, Jerry Inman, and Janet Sullivan. 

“This event is something the community looks forward to each year,” said Michael Duchemin, Ph.D., executive director of the C.M. Russell Museum. “Charlie Russell was a people-person and loved getting together with his friends. This is one way we bring a little of Charlie’s West to the city of Great Falls, and everyone always has a great time.”

This year, demonstrations will also include Dave Brown and Bill Miller making rawhide braided rope in an authentic cowboy camp setting. In addition, boot making will be demonstrated by Dan and Julia Schwarz of Schwarz Custom Boots and Atomic 79 boot shop in Dillon, Montana.

Also available will be the always-popular plein-air painting stations for kids. Children can create their very own paintings that they can bring home that day.

 The Saddles & Spurs event is free and open to the public. To visit the museum galleries, regular admission applies.

 To become a member and for additional information, visit the C.M. Russell Museum’s website at www.cmrussell.org or call (406) 727-8787.

 The mission of the C.M. Russell Museum is to collect, preserve, research, interpret and educate on the art and life of Charles M. Russell; the art and lives of his contemporaries; and the art of preceding and ensuing generations that depicts and focuses on the culture, life, and country of Russell’s West. The vision of the museum is sharing Russell’s West with excellence.