Western Days
Enjoy a celebration of cowboy and cowgirl culture! All events are free and open to the public. With 48-hour notice, the Library can provide signed programs and meet other special needs; call 261-8590 for details.
Sundays @ Alford: Writing Western Noir
Author Max McCoy tells the wicked but true story of how he went from "True Detective" to "Hellfire Canyon" -- and won the Spur and a Kansas Notable Book award along the way. (45-60 minutes)
2:30 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 1, Alford Branch Library, 3447 S. Meridian CANCELLED
The Free Staters
The Free Staters combine fiddle, early fretless banjo, parlor guitar, buffalo rib bones, donkey jawbone and tambourine to recreate the music you would have heard coming from an American front porch in the 1850s. Dressed in 19th century clothing and playing period instruments or reproductions of those instruments, the band looks and sounds like it stepped off the front porch and into the present. (60 minutes)
2:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 2, Alford Branch Library, 3447 S. Meridian
Cattle Towns and Soiled Doves
Possessing a twinkle in her eye and a tantalizing sense of humor, the Contessa (as portrayed by Marla Matkin) deftly transports you to cow towns, bringing to life the riveting characters that strode the streets and rode the range. Movies, television and novels have long kept the West and its saga alive, but it takes the insight of a charmer such as the Contessa to immerse you in the history and lore of such an unforgettable moment in time. Her invitation is an appeal to suspend 21st century reality and travel back to the boomtowns where men lived by the gun and women lived by their wits. It's the Victorian Era on the wild side. As the Contessa, Matkin employs ample supplies of humor, sensitivity and skill. (60 minutes)
2:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 9, Alford Branch Library, 3447 S. Meridian
Thomas Ewing Jr., Frontier Lawyer and Civil War General
Ronald D. Smith, an attorney from Larned, Kan., and author of "Thomas Ewing Jr., Frontier Lawyer and Civil War General," will discuss the life of this historical figure. (60 minutes)
7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 10, Central Library, 223 S. Main
Cowboys and Kansas: Stories from the Tallgrass Prairie
Historian Jim Hoy knows the Flint Hills: he grew up on a Cassoday ranch that’s been in his family for five generations. In "Cowboys and Kansas," he blends history, folklore, and memoir to share 150 years of cowboy stories. Join us as he shares some of his favorites. (60 minutes)
2:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 16, Alford Branch Library, 3447 S. Meridian
Musician Ann Zimmerman
Ann Zimmerman sings the prairie into universal language. Blending old and new traditions with her own award-winning songs, Ann's concerts tell stories and paint portraits, brilliantly-colored and unexpected, enhanced by an irresistible stage presence. Ann grew up in Salina, Kansas, singing folksongs with her family to the strums of her mother's autoharp. (60 minutes)
2:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 23, Alford Branch Library, 3447 S. Meridian
Cowboy Poet Sam M. Kiefer
Sam Kiefer attended Fort Scott Community College and Kansas State University on rodeo scholarships. A rider of bulls and broncs, he has since retired after qualifying for the Prairie Circuit finals numerous times. While he works at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant, his love of western culture keeps him in the country, tending grass cattle and writing cowboy poetry. (60 minutes)
2:30 p.m., Monday, Nov. 30, Alford Branch Library, 3447 S. Meridian
Western Days is made possible by the City of Wichita, the Leonard and Celia Levand Trust, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Wichita Public Library Foundation.
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