Celebrate America's Western Heritage at the only event of its kind in Southeast Kansas!

This June 7-9, RFD-TV’s Best of America by Horseback is joining forces with the 17th Annual Echoes of the Trail Cowboy Gathering!

Besides the usual array of fine cowboy poets and singers, chuck wagon feeds, vendors of fine western tack, attire, art, and more, and Sunday morning Cowboy Church, Echoes of the Trail has teamed up with RFD-TV’s Best of America by Horseback to offer a trail ride and a cowboy poetry/music contest during our 17th annual Echoes of the Trail Cowboy Gathering!

NEW! Echoes of the Trail and RFD-TV’s Best of America by Horseback will conduct a cowboy poetry/singing contest June 7th and 8th! To enter, send a recording of your performance to Echoes of the Trail, 2280 Hackberry Rd., Fort Scott, Kansas 66701. Entrants will be screened, and the best 12 who qualify will be invited to compete. Please read contest rules HERE.

NEW! All Echoes of the Trail activities this year will be in the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center at Fort Scott Community College. Friday evening, June 7th, the 12 contestants will perform, and the top five of those will compete again Saturday night, June 8th. One of the judges will be Leroy Van Dyke, the well-known performing artist of "The Auctioneer", 19 week #1 Country Classic "Walk On By" and many more. The grand winner will be filmed for an appearance on Best of America by Horseback, and will receive a commemorative buckle. The top cowboy poets will qualify to enter the Western Music Assn. contest the following week, to be held during the Symphony in the Flint Hills.

NEW! We welcome Tom Seay and Del Shields, co-hosts of the Best of America by Horseback TV show, as they sponsor a two day trail ride in Fort Scott, Kansas in conjunction with our gathering! The ride will be on the Tucker Ranch, 4.5 miles south of the FSCC. Riders will be traveling along open meadows, through shallow water creeks, through some brush and down ravines.  It will be a trail simple enough for novice riders with challenges available for the experienced rider. The ride will be televised on a future Best of America by Horseback show. Co-host Del Shields got his start at Echoes of the Trail in 2004!

The two-day ride costs $100 and includes a banquet in the Fine Arts Center on Friday night. If riders wish to ride one day only (Friday or Saturday morning), the fee will be $50 but will not include the Friday night banquet. Riders must register by June 1st, by calling 540-829-9555. Riders will have primitive camping with porta-potties. The Tuckers have graciously offered about 30 stalls to riders who need them; call Diann Tucker at 620-224-7054 for stall info.

To learn more about Best of America by Horseback, see Facebook, or web site: bestofamericabyhorseback.com or call 540-829-9555.

NEW! The first ever Echoes of the Trail Pie Baking Contest! For rules, click here. Our Southwind Extension District Agent Ann Ludlum, and our local Life + Style shop owner, Cynthia McFarlin, will sponsor the contest. Winners will be announced during Saturday night’s program in the Fine Arts Center. The top 3 pies will be auctioned, and winners will receive a gift basket from Life+Style. Slices of the other pies will be sold after the judging is completed during the day on Saturday. Contact Ann Ludlum at 223-3720 or Cynthia McFarlin at 223-2915 for details on entering.

NEW! A real wagon train will roll into Echoes! Midwest Missouri Teamsters, a group of frontier reenactors, are traveling from Liberal, Mo. to Fort Scott to participate in the Echoes of the Trail Cowboy Gathering! The wagon train will set out from Liberal on Thursday, June 6, travel to Cato, KS, and camp over night. Friday, June 7th, they will travel the 12 miles from Cato to Fort Scott and set up camp outside the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center. For more info about the wagon train, contact George Parsons 417-842-3368.

Saturday, June 8th is a busy day, with performances starting at 10 a.m. Ten cowboy poets and singers will entertain on the Fine Arts Center stage, while vendors of tack, fine leather goods, jewelry, western art, and more will be in the foyer area. The chuck wagon will be down by the pond just north of the Fine Arts Building, and Denny Williams and crew will offer a cowboy style noon meal for a free-will offering. At 3 p.m. winners of the Gary Wimmer Memorial Children’s Cowboy Poetry Contest will recite. During the day, there will be an open microphone for aspiring entertainers. Saturday evening’s performances will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday morning, June 9th, Rev. Steven Spalding will lead Cowboy Church out by the chuck wagon, and the cooks will serve a delicious chuck wagon breakfast after the service, all for a free will offering.

Tickets for the entire weekend of entertainment on the Fine Arts Center stage will by only $20. For $10 each, you may buy individual tickets for either Friday or Saturday evening, or Saturday during the day. Tickets will be held at the entrance “will call” for those who purchase them in advance through this web site.