Cowboy Reunions of Las Vegas, New Mexico

Book excerpt: For nearly a half-century, Las Vegas, New Mexico, held "Wild West" adventures rivaling Cheyenne's Frontier Days, the Calgary Stampede, and Oregon's Pendleton Round Up. The San Miguel County seat annually hosted full-dress cowpunchers, Native Americans, ranchers, dance bands, artists and writers, moviemakers, and rodeo performers. The Las Vegas Cowboys' Reunion became legendary in western lore, drawing such ten-gallon names as Tom Mix, Jim Shoulders, Montana Belle, Prairie Rose Henderson, and Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Dick Bills and his nephew, Glen Campbell, played at the "Big Balls," and the reunions drew famous western artists, such as Randall Davey. Join author Pat Romero for these reunion tales based on Git Fer Vegas, Cowboy , the exhibit she curated at the City of Las Vegas Museum and Rough Rider Memorial Collection.