LOOMIS, Calif. — The 32nd Annual Cowpoke Fall Gathering returns to the Blue Goose Event Center on Friday, Nov. 13, and Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, with two nights of cowboy poetry, Western music and storytelling. One hundred percent of proceeds benefit local and regional charities.

Headlining this year is Dave Stamey, a 2016 inductee into the Western Music Hall of Fame and seven-time Western Music Association Entertainer of the Year. True West magazine named him Best Living Western Solo Musician four years in a row.

Joining him on stage are Trinity Seely, a singer-songwriter who ranches with her family near Cascade, Montana; Annie Mackenzie, a fourth-generation rancher and cowboy poet from Jordan Valley, Oregon; and Bill Dale, a cowboy poet and lifelong cattleman who has emceed the Gathering since 2024.

Saturday is "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" night. Guests are invited to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness.

The Gathering began in 1995, when Bert and Carol Braun drove home from four days of cowboy poetry in Elko, Nevada, and decided the tradition belonged in Loomis. That November, the first Gathering sold out both nights at the 75-seat Red Brick Art Center. In 2004 it moved into the restored Blue Goose fruit shed. The Cowpoke Foundation, established as a 501(c)(3) in 2010, has given more than $500,000 to local charities, passing that milestone in 2026. It also awards a $1,000 college scholarship each year to a local high school student.

If you go: Friday, Nov. 13, and Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. Doors open at 6 p.m.; shows start at 7 p.m. Blue Goose Event Center, 3550 Taylor Road, Loomis. Tickets are $60, reserved seating, at cowpokefallgathering.com. Silent auction, Mike's Wild Tacos and a cash bar. Attire is cowboy casual. Wheelchair seating: (916) 652-6290.

Every November, a restored fruit-packing shed in Loomis fills with boots, hats and the sound of verse. The Cowpoke Fall Gathering has been bringing cowboy poetry, Western music and storytelling to Placer County since 1995, and every dollar it raises stays in the community.

It started with a road trip. Bert and Carol Braun spent four days at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, and on the drive home they decided Loomis needed one of its own. The first Gathering, held that November at the 75-seat Red Brick Art Center, sold out both nights with an all-local lineup. By its third year it filled three venues for 500 fans, and in 2004 it moved into the Blue Goose, a historic fruit shed restored by the South Placer Heritage Foundation, which the Gathering has supported since 1998.

"When the Cowpoke Fall Gathering took off, we knew instinctually that we would pay it forward, we just needed to figure out how," Bert and Carol told the California Rangeland Trust in 2022. The answer was the Cowpoke Foundation, established as a 501(c)(3) in 2010. One hundred percent of the Gathering's proceeds go to local and regional charities, from heritage preservation to cancer support to student scholarships. In 2026, the Foundation's total giving passed $500,000.

The Foundation also looks ahead. Each spring it awards a $1,000 college scholarship to a local high school student, and it works with area schools on educational programs and youth performances so the cowboy tradition finds new voices.

The 33rd Annual Cowpoke Fall Gathering takes place Friday and Saturday, Nov. 12 and 13, 2027, at the Blue Goose Event Center, 3550 Taylor Road, Loomis. Tickets go on sale Oct. 1 at cowpokefallgathering.com, and shows sell out quickly.