Kindness

A Wyoming ranch is thriving on kindness toward animals. Co-Directors Dr. Karen Straight and Matt Farwell share their story about the ranch where research animals are given sanctuary and once nurtured, offered for adoption. The location near Hartville, Wyoming is the only one of its kind in the U.S. and information is available at: kindnessranch.org

The Hills Are Alive...

Not to get all Julie Andrews on you, but the hills are alive with the sound of music this month. Seriously, if you spun around like Ms. Andrews – arms and skirt flying – you’d run you fingers up against a Wyoming music festival. No matter what type of music you’re looking for, there’s something for you here.

The Happy Jack Music Festival occurs in the middle of July. If you play an instrument, and you’re into chilling out and doing some freestyle acoustic jamming, this is the festival for you. The 2009 event included workshops on songwriting, guitar, dobro, the lap dulcimer and harmonica. There are also jam sessions broken out according to skill level. And, while the grownups are playing, the kids can build their own instruments at a workshop and play them at the sing-along that follows. After a day of play, attendees can sit back and enjoy regional artists on the stage.

Happy Jack Music Festival is between Laramie and Cheyenne. It is free to all attendees – even dogs. Camping fees for the weekend and concession prices go to Friends of Curt Gowdy State Park. If you aren’t a camper, shuttles are available. Check it out at www.hjmusicfestival.com.

Unfortunately, you may have to choose between Happy Jack and the Beartrap Summer Festival which is always the third weekend of July on Casper Mountain. Thousands of music lovers converge on the mountain to see regional bands during the day and well known bands such as Asleep at the Wheel and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the evening. This venue also provides numerous opportunities to get your bling on or deck yourself out in Beartrap duds with several rows of vendor booths.

Beartrap Summer Festival costs $15 on Saturday, $20 on Sunday or $30 for the whole shebang. Grandma and the kids can get in at discounted rates. Click here to see their cool new website: www.beartrapsummerfestival.com.

Get hip to Nowoodstock, aka the Ten Sleep Music Festival, which takes place at the beginning of August at Vista Park in Ten Sleep. This is music that makes you feel the wind in your hair and the sun on your face even when you’re standing inside. It’s a feel-good mash of indie country classic rock with a twist of tongue-in-cheek lyricism. The 2009 headliners were Palmer Divide, Chuck Pyle, Spawning Fondness, Aftershock and local favorite The Jalan Crossland Band. And how could anyone pass up a chance to find out what Prickly Pair & The Cactus Chorale play?

Cost for the Ten Sleep Music Festival is $15 on Friday and Sunday, $20 for Saturday, or $30 for a weekend pass. Active and recent military get two free passes. Dig it at www.nowoodstock.com.

When he hit it big, critics said Jonny Lang was too young to know the blues (he might not know ‘em, but he sure can SING ‘em). And certainly it is hard to have the blues while vacationing in Wyoming. But don’t let that stop you from attending the Snowy Range Music Festival on Labor Day weekend. With a couple of stages at the Albany County Fairgrounds in Laramie, this festival provides a constant barrage of bluesy, rocky, souly and country goodness to please your ears from Noon to 2 a.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Then put on your boogie shoes for the “C and W Barn Dance” on Saturday and Sunday night. Moorcroft’s Chancey Williams & The Younger Brothers Band has been playing everywhere this summer – here’s your chance to be able to say you’ve seen them too.

Snowy Range Music Festival costs $40 per day or $85 for 3-day pass. Get a preview of the tunes and find more information at www.snowyrangemusicfestival.com.

So you’re thinking that this is not so many concerts? You could definitely swing your arms and, at least six times out of ten, NOT hit a music festival? Well TAKE THIS, doubters!

Grand Targhee Resort hosts Targhee Fest on the third weekend of July and the Bluegrass Festival the third weekend of August (www.grandtarghee.com).

The Grand Teton Music Festival holds ongoing events during July and August (www.gtmf.org).

Wyoming’s largest FREE music festival, The Oyster Ridge Music Festival, takes place in Kemmerer on the last Friday of July (www.oysterridgemusicfestival.com). In 2009 this concert pulled 9,000 attendees – not bad for a town with 2,500 residents!

Pine Haven hosted the first Keyhole Rhythm & Ribs Festival at the beginning of August (www.pinehavenchamber.org/rhythmribs.htm).

AND, while not exactly music festivals, my friends on Facebook pointed out that there are “music in the park” events in Rawlins, Lander, Riverton and Cheyenne. And Cheyenne Frontier Days. And Blues and Brews in Rock Springs. And bands on every patio at every bar all summer. And…stop swinging your arms, you’re gonna hit Chancey Williams.

To Be Fair

When you think about 4-H, you probably think about kids with goats and rabbits. But, being a city kid in Rock Springs, Wyoming – no, no, go ahead and laugh at my assertion that Rock Springs is a city; I’ll wait. Done? Okay – the closest I ever came to a “livestock project” was my cat (who, I might add, won a big purple grand champion ribbon…never mind she was the only cat project in Sweetwater County). But the centerpiece of every 4-H experience is the county fair, where even the most urban kid gets to be rural for a week.

Ah, the fair. A treat to all the senses – let’s start with the sights. From dawn to dusk a fair-goer can view displays on everything from rocks to rutabagas. From quilts to cuizanarts. After you talk to the sheriff and pick up your requisite plastic deputy’s badge, head over to the shark tank, then pick out some faux silver “bling” with a butterfly or a skull. This year I saw a guy climb into a giant balloon in Rock Springs. I saw a teeny tiny girl handling a great big horse in Laramie County. And, though I didn’t make it to the Fremont County Fair, the pictures of trained bison climbing onto a horse trailer make me wish I’d been there.

Moving from sights to smells, you just can’t beat the scent of fresh hay in the livestock barn. And while you’re leaning in close to examine the biggest bunny EVER the hay aroma mixes with that of alfalfa pellets. It’s a sweet, heady mixture of smells, almost solid, that fills your lungs and sticks to the inside of your nose. Then you leave the barn and cleanse your pallet on fresh, Wyoming air before heading to the midway. Here you can assault your aroma sensors with…

…fair food. Funnel cake. Indian tacos. Pretty much anything that can be skewered, fried or grilled, and handed to you on a stick. Turkey legs, which provide their own stick. Ice cream. Pizza. Elephant ears. A bunch of different meats shoved into buns. Kettle corn. Carmel apples. Cotton ca… …sorry, I had to run back out to the fairgrounds.

In addition to the delightful full feeling you experience after eating your way through the midway, many fairs have carnivals where you can take your stomach to new heights, spin it around, jump it up and down…

And then we come to sounds. You can’t get more rural than the call of an auctioneer selling of the 4-H kids’ goat or beef project. The same stands will be filled later that day with crowds cheering on the cutting teams as they race the clock. The crush of cars in the demo derby. In the midway you’ll hear children laughing at a clown or magician. And there are concerts. From favorite local acts to national stars, most counties provide a soundtrack for your fair fun.

Most county fairs are wrapping up, having taken place in late July or the first weeks of August. They have to be completed because all those hopeful 4-H kids want to pile onto buses headed to the Wyoming State Fair which starts on Friday, August 7. The State Fair is a county fair…super sized. More rides. More barns. A constant barrage of entertainment options.

For $5 a day, you can roam the midway, see the exhibits and attend free concerts, clown acts and comedians. Grandstand events cost a little extra, but you can see miniature bull riding, BIG bull riding at the PRCA Extreme Bulls event, and a number of other special events. I don’t know what a “Rubber Chicken Race” is, but sure as heck I am heading up to Douglas on Saturday, August 15, to find out! I’d also like to see country singer John Anderson and the band Gloriana on Wednesday, August 12. Ooh, ooh! AND I want to go up to see Moorcroft’s Chancey Williams and the Younger Brother Band play (insert blatant plug for Wyoming sponsored cowboys signing autographs and handing out free swag, here) on the afternoon of Thursday, August 13. I wonder if I can get a bunk in the 4-H dorms…

For more information on the events and super-sweet ticket packages available for the full fair experience, check out the Wyoming State Fair’s website (while you’re there, go play with the singing horses in the kids’ section) at www.wystatefair.com.