Slide title

Write your caption here

Button

About the Festival

The Wild West Arts Fest is a weekend of learning, sharing, hugs, accomplishments, chowing down and showing off. We were overwhelmed by just how amazing 2019 truly was and hope to make 2020 even better.

Our event is a 3 day immersive festival focused on growing the classic Western Art forms through education and expansion of the Western Arts community. Each day will begin with open space to warm up and get ready for the full day ahead. At 10 am instruction starts in several intimate classrooms where students can choose from classes in trick roping, gun spinning, whip cracking and knife throwing.

Additional classes are offered in auxiliary skills including, Western arts combat, Western dance and performance workshops as well as open practice and skill sharing sessions. Classes cater to all levels from beginner to professional and everyone is welcome.

The class levels and skills are staggered throughout the day so attendees are able to pick the instruction that best suits their needs and interests. Class sizes are small and classrooms are sizable so there is lots of room for each student to spread out and get comfortable. The limited attendance also allows for individual attention from our master instructors during lessons. We always keep one room empty during each hourly block dedicated to open practice time for attendees who want to hone their new skills.

Though education is important so is the chance to share and connect with other individuals with common interests. We believe that everyone has something to bring to the table and celebrating our diversity as a group is key to creating a memorable weekend. To enhance each attendee’s experience we have thoughtfully curated different nightly events.

The first night is dedicated to getting to know each other through a little friendly competition. We offer an evening of contests to battle for titles in trick roping, whip cracking and the coveted Best Trick Award. Competitions are open to all attendees and the outcome is anyone's guess. Upsets and surprises are all part of the comradery.

The next night we convene in our Buffalo Bill Showroom to enjoy the Young Guns and Lone Stars Show. This exciting showcase features everything from first-time performers to incredible seasoned professionals. Sign up to perform or relax with a cocktail and enjoy the show.

Finally, on Saturday we blowout the weekend at The Gunslingers Ball. We ask that you dress up to get down. The evening will begin with passed appetizers and time for mingling with your new friends. Then our teachers take the stage in an amazing and inspiring spectacular. Once the show ends we eat, laugh and dance the night away.

What to Expect

Practice Makes Perfect

Not only will we offer multiple daily classes, but there will be plenty of time for practice and skill sharing.

Make Friends

Meet people who love the Western Arts

make new friends that will last a lifetime.

Dress to Impress

We'll have nightly entertainment including The Gunslingers Ball so dust off your best duds!

Your admission to the event entitles you to:

• Unlimited classes Thursday-Saturday

• Thursday night meet and greet event

. Open admission into any contest

• Friday night Young Guns and Lone Stars Show

• Saturday night Gunslingers Costume Ball and Legends Dinner Show

• Saturday night buffet dinner

• Open floor practice time and skill sharing sessions

• Wild West Arts Fest T-Shirt

Class Schedule

Multiple classes will be offered daily during the 2020 Wild Wet Arts fest.
Here is the 2019 schedule to use as an example of what to expect this year.

A23

Thursday

Schedule TBD

A25

Saturday

Schedule TBD

A24

Friday

Schedule TBD

Spencer Rose

Spencer Rose, a California native, first stepped into the Rodeo arena with the Riata Ranch Cowboy Girls at age 12. Spencer quickly became one of the world’s best female trick ropers, entertaining crowds at the California Rodeo Salinas, Pendleton Round-Up, California Circuit Finals, the World Equestrian Games in 2010, and the Qasr Al Hasn festival in Abu Dhabi. At 19 she embarked on tour with the international theatrical sensation Cavalia which lasted 5 years and crossed 4 continents. Spencer is the only rider to have the honor of performing in both renowned horse skill shows Cavalia and Odysseo as a multi-talented liberty trainer, trick rider, roman rider, dressage rider and lasso artist. In 2017 Spencer’s next endeavor Night of the Horse, she combined her horse handling with her knowledge from the circus and rodeo arena to present an act featuring fire whips, lassos, and trick riding. Spencer can’t wait to bring .her bevy of knowledge to The WWAF as a mentor.

Chris McDaniel

Chris McDaniel is a long-time cowboy performing and teaching trick roping as well as delighting audiences with his whip cracking skills. Chris got his start on stage as a formally trained actor and singer, wanting to stand out in the crowd; he picked up a rope and fell in love with the Wild West. Chris has graced the stage in innumerable cabaret, variety and dinner theater stage shows across the county. His TV appearances include: Late Night with David Letterman and Best Week Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, but you may know him best from his career defining role with the Broadway tour of The Will Roger’s Follies.

Gery Deer

Gery Deer is a world-renowned veteran whip artist and coach and the founder of The Whip Artistry Studio in Jamestown, Ohio. Raised on a cattle farm in rural Ohio, he opened the studio in 1998 as the only permanent facility in the United States dedicated to the non-combative study of the whip for sports, fitness and performance art. The facility provides training for whip handling, targeting, competition performance, and fitness. Students of the whip studio include hobbyists, stage and stunt performers, and many performers who have worked as “Indiana Jones” in the Universal Studios’ Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. In addition to his work as a master whip coach, Gery has been a featured performer on stages around the country. He has appeared on countless television variety programs over his 30-year career including Steve Harvey’s Big Time, America’s Got Talent, The Bonnie Hunt Show, as well as the PBS series, Our Ohio. He also designs original whip holstering equipment and utility belts used by some of the largest production companies in the world including Universal Studios, Warner Brothers and 21st Century Fox.

Keith Nelson

Keith Nelson is the founder of Bindlestiff Family Variety Arts, Inc. A circus production company which prides itself on being an integral part of America’s outstanding folk traditions of circus, sideshow, vaudeville, and storytelling. The first Bindlestiff Family Cirkus took place in 1995 in Brooklyn, New York. Each year since then, Bindlestiff has produced original Cirkus shows, festivals, and other public events. Bindlestiff has presented hundreds of the world’s top artists in the circus and variety fields. Performance seasons in NYC and New York’s Hudson Valley, as well as national touring in the United States, have engaged audiences in the hundreds of thousands, with performances in theaters, spiegeltents, big tops, cruise ships, fairs and festivals, and beyond. In 2017 Bindlestiff was invited to represent the art of circus at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, celebrating the cultural heritage of the American circus on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Created with

Slide title

About the Festival

What to Expect

Practice Makes Perfect

Make Friends

Dress to Impress

Class Schedule

Multiple classes will be offered daily during the 2020 Wild Wet Arts fest. Here is the 2019 schedule to use as an example of what to expect this year.

A23

Thursday

A25

Saturday

A24

Friday

Multiple classes will be offered daily during the 2020 Wild Wet Arts fest.
Here is the 2019 schedule to use as an example of what to expect this year.