Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering is celebrating three decades of entertaining this weekend, and Sam Noble has been with it the entire time.

“When they first put the Cowboy Poetry Gathering together here, we were doing Cowboy Church services for the high school rodeo team,” he said. “They asked me if I would do the Cowboy Church service for the first Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering, and I have been doing that now for 30 years.”

Noble grew up on a farm-ranch operation in Bayfield, where his hard work on the ranch was paired with hard work off the land.

“I’ve always lived on a ranch and had cows up until the last few years when I’ve retired,” he said. “I always had to have a real job to support my ranching habit, so I worked for La Plata Electric for 43 years. It was work. It made an old man out of me quickly.”

He said since starting with the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, he has been writing and reciting poetry ever since. You can find him two nights a week at the Bar D Chuck Wagon, where he recites cowboy poetry in the chapel. He also attends cowboy gatherings all over the West.

This weekend, Noble will be performing with other entertainers during Friday and Saturday nights at the Henry Strater Theatre and will host Sunday morning’s “A Cowboy and his Creator” event, also at the Strater.

“I love the night shows with all the different cowboys,” Noble said. “Here in Durango, we try to keep the night show real cowboy: We try to make sure that the entertainers we have have some real cowboy experience so that their stories are real.”

As for Noble’s stories, he shared one of his favorites, a story about what happened to him when he was 17:

“When I was a kid, I only had two pairs of boots: I had a pair of irrigation boots and a pair of cowboy boots. Back then, the cowboy boots were all leather soled, and the soles wore out quickly if you were walking a lot. We had to take them to a boot and saddle shop and have them half-soled every once in a while. Ours was Charlie Martin’s Boot and Saddle Shop that was in Bayfield.

“So, I headed down there with my boots – I had my irrigation boots on because I was probably going irrigating anyway. I started to go into Mr. Martin’s saddle shop and some fancy-dressed guy jumped in front of me, carrying a real fancy pair of boots; I suppose he was probably a cowboy poet or an entertainer (laughs). Mr. Martin had a counter that went all the way across his shop, and it had a little lift-up door in the center of that counter, and that’s where he did all his business.

“This fella set his boots up there and he said, ‘Mr. Martin, I need these boots half-soled by this afternoon.’ And this is the way I tell it, and it’s pretty much truth: Charlie Martin had false teeth somewhere. He said, (Noble starts talking like he doesn’t have teeth): ‘You see all them boots I have over in the corner? I’ve got to fix all them boots before I can fix yours. You see all them saddles I got over there? I got to fix all them saddles before I get to your boots.’ The man picked up his boots and stomped out.

“I went over and set my boots down on the floor and I set up on his little counter there and visited with him a little while. Charlie liked to visit, he was an old guy, and I reached down and picked up my boots and set them on the counter and I said, ‘Charlie, I’ll check back with you in a few days, I need these half-soled.’ He said, ‘I’ll probably have them this afternoon.’ And I say the moral is: Never rush a craftsman.” (Laughs)

Noble said the annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering is important because it is one way to keep Western heritage alive.

“We have not only poetry, we have the chuck wagon breakfast and the cowboy parade, which is motorless, which means it’s mostly horses and people. Those things help keep the cowboy world alive,” he said. “There are still some cowboys around if you look in the outer reaches.”

And for those who have never attended a cowboy poetry gathering, Noble has some advice:

“Just come and listen. You’ll enjoy it,” he said. “If you’ve never heard of it before, you’ll learn about it and learn that it is very entertaining.”

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