| Guests enjoy the night of poetry and song. |
With the breathtaking beauty of the Emery County desert as a backdrop, the Emery County Historical Society presented their annual Cowboy Poetry evening on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. For the historical aspect of the night, the Castle Valley Ranch hosted the event at the Leroy and Hessie Bunderson home. The original home was built in 1920 in this serene valley between Ferron and Emery. After having been abandoned for nearly 50 years, Jim Fauver from the Castle Valley ranch undertook the renovation operation three years ago.
JoAnn Behling, Emery County Historical Society President, greeted everyone as they arrived. She then introduced Ferron resident Sam Singleton as the emcee for the evening. Singleton began by inviting Joanne Cox and Evelyn Huntsman to sing a few songs. As Evelyn sang, Joanne accompanied her with the accordion. Their rendition of “Springtime in the Rockies” induced the audience to sing-a-long.
Misty Christiansen read a poem entitled “Sure Enough Hand” followed by Singleton reading “Matter of Choice,” written by Nevada’s poet laureate, Mildred Breedlove.
The program continued with more songs as Singleton introduced Greg Fausett from Price. Fausett played the guitar as he sang and told some humorous stories. Bert Oman followed the music as he read two of the many poems he has written, “The Fox Hunt” and “The Bronco Twister’s Tale.” Shawnee Barnes followed Oman with her reading of “Harley’s Helper” by Sanpete county poet, Sam DeLeeuw.
Val and Berniece Payne played their guitars and then sang three songs including one comical song that he wrote.
Kirk Johansen followed the songs with two poignant poems that he had written. The first was entitled “A Rodeo Parents’ Tribute to High School Rodeo” and the second entitled “Funniest Video” his own true story about a day on the farm. As darkness settled in, with the sounds of nature in the background, all the musicians got together and sang “Cool Clear Water” and “You are My Sunshine” as the refreshments were served.Fauver had prepared dutch oven cobbler with homemade ice cream.