Poets and Pickers spring forward

Press release

The poets and pickers have frozen out, and organizers think their audiences might welcome a change, as well, with the 21st Annual Western Heritage Roundup of the Montana Country Poets & Pickers being held in April this year rather than early February.

Running Friday, April 10, through Sunday, April 12, the roundup will feature about 30 performers in shows Friday and Saturday nights. Free jam sessions, with many of the performers, will be held after each show and most of the day Saturday. Cowboy Church will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday.

The local group of country poets and pickers started in 1994 at Havre-Hill County Library, at the urging of then-library director Bonnie Williamson. Moving the event from the first weekend in February to mid-April, which is national poetry month, is an effort by organizers to find a “kinder climate.”

Tickets for the night shows at Chinook High School auditorium will be available at the door. The jam sessions and the church service, which all will be at the Chinook Motor Inn, are free of charge.

For more information, call Arnold Hokanson at 265-2712 or Dale Mailand at 353-2383