Some of the best talent will descend on the town of Central High Oklahoma come
Saturday, November 5 in an event dubbed Cowboys and Pies. In the western spirit
of a gathering, cowboy poets, musicians, storytellers and singers will light up the
Central High Community Center, 166141 7 Mile Road in Central High (Marlow)
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Adding to the excitement and appeal to the event is a Pie Baking Contest. Open to
the public and free to enter, winners will receive awards and prizes. 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd ,
Oldest Baker, Youngest Baker and People’s Choice are the judging categories.
Local talent include nationally and locally known Jay Snider from Cyril and award
winning Dulcimer artist Jan Hicks Carroll of Lawton. Oklahoma Cowboy Poet
Laureate, Francine Robison is slated to appear. Other performers include Larry P.
Thompson, Glenn Murray, Don Williams and Kenney Fields. A half hour time
frame has been set aside for open mic for any wander in poets, musicians or
singers.
Jay Snider has appeared at many of the major cowboy gatherings: the Texas
Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Alpine; Cal Farley’s Youth Poetry Gathering near
Amarillo, Texas; National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas; Arizona
Cowboy Poets’ Gathering in Prescott; Kamloops Cowboy Festival in Kamloops,
British Columbia; and multiple appearances at the National Cowboy Poetry
Gathering, Elko, Nevada and the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center in Duncan,
Oklahoma. He also appeared on Country Music Television’s Christmas in
Cowboy Country, hosted by Clint Black.
Francine Robison’s background includes a farmer dad and a schoolmarm mom.
She writes from personal experience or from family stories passed down from her
parents, with most of the settings in southern Oklahoma and the Arbuckle
Mountains. Farm life included a horse, a collie dog, and numerous cats. She didn’t
walk five miles in the snow to school, but she did walk down to the cattle guard to
catch the school bus, carrying her homework and Roy Rogers lunch box.
She has performed at several gatherings, including the Oklahoma and Texas State
Fairs; the Red Steagall Gathering in Ft. Worth; Cowboys, Heroes, and Friends in
Branson; the Chisholm Trail Festival in Yukon; the Poetry Society of Tennessee in
Memphis; the Farm and Ranch Heritage Gathering in Las Cruces; Festival of the
West in Scottsdale; Echoes of the Trail in Ft. Scott; National Cowboy Hall of Fame
in Oklahoma City; Western Heritage Classic in Abilene, Texas; Bookfest 2000 in
Dyersburg, Tennessee, and cowboy poetry gatherings at the Chisholm trail heritage
Center, Duncan, Oklahoma, as well as a couple of pig roasts.
Jan Carroll began to be interested in music also. By the time she was 7 years old,
she played the piano well, and in junior high she was the organist at her church.
She began college at Southeastern Oklahoma University in Durant and met her
husband there.
Competitions at which Carroll has been named champion include the 2014 Texas
State Mountain Dulcimer Competition in Glen Rose, Texas; the 2017 Mississippi
State Mountain Dulcimer Competition in Hattiesburg, Miss.; the 2017 Louisiana
State Mountain Dulcimer Competition in Port Allen, La.; the 2017 Southern
Regional Mountain Dulcimer Competition in Mountain View, Ark and more since
then.
Pie contest rules are simply a baked pie of any flavor delivered to the Community
Center between 1 and 2 p.m. Other pies may be donated for sale of pie by the slice
or to be auctioned. Funds collected will go to defray the expenses of the event
with excess funds being donated to the Central High Volunteer Fire Department.
Winners will be announced after 3 p.m.
For more information contact Ron Secoy – secoyron818@gmail.com, Messenger
or 580 606-9574.