Stevens County Conservation District’s Seventy-fifth Annual Appreciation Banquet is Saturday, February 1. The banquet is hosted by the Stevens County Conservation District. The event will be at the Memorial Hall at Sixth and Monroe in Hugoton starting at 5:00 p.m. Join them for dinner, accomplishments, awards, meeting and election.
The guest speaker for the evening will be Ron Wilson Cowboy Poet. Ron grew up near Manhattan on the Lazy T Ranch where his family resides today. His cowboy poetry is featured regularly in newspaper, radio and television. Ron chairs the annual Kansas Cowboy Poetry Contest, hosted the online television show “Cowboy Up”, and hosts the monthly online video show called “Cattle Trails Showcase.” He was proclaimed a “Poet Lariat” (not laureate) by the Governor of Kansas. He won first place in the cowboy poetry contest at the Kansas Cowboy Symposium at Dodge City and scored in the top two of his class at the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo. He is the only cowboy poet in history to present a cowboy poem at a Kansas Governor’s inauguration. He also serves as national secretary of the Western Wordsmiths chapter and legislative chair for the International Chisholm Trail Association. Ron was named Horizon Award winner by the Heartland Chapter of the Academy of Western Artists, one of 50 Kansans You Should Know by Ingram’s magazine, and Ambassador for the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum in Fort Worth, Tx.
The Hugoton FFA will be helping with the dinner and the Hugoton High School Show Choir will also be entertaining the audience. Hunny’s BBQ will be catering the dinner courtesy of Citizens State Bank. Door prizes will be given away!
This year’s winners are McClure Farms Partnership (Joel and Karen McClure), Grassland winners; Mid America Cattle (Walter, Estella, Don and Walle Beesley), Soil Conservation winners; and Brian and Aymee Harper, Windbreak winners.
The Distinguished Community Service Award will also be presented during the banquet and meeting. Be sure to mark your calendar for February 1.
