The first original Reno Rodeo showing, “Carnival of the Range,” was held July 1st through the 5th, 1919. This year, the 100th anniversary, is a ten-day run from June 20th to the 29th.
Nevada Writers Hall of Fame writer, Western author and artist Will James drew the original souvenir poster for the rodeo. I pulled this from a Facebook video featuring poster owner and Reno, Nevada local Gwendolyn Clancy, as there seems to be no other online.
Will James has a strong historical connection with Northern Nevada. Not only did he live in the Washoe Valley, where he wrote several of his books, including original artwork, he worked as a cowboy in the Caughlin Ranch area, which before becoming an upscale housing development, was a working cattle and horse ranch.
Unfortunately, the Reno Rodeo Association didn’t see fit to reproduce this poster for the benefit of their fans. Instead, they decided that a more ‘modern’ piece of art should adorn their centennial poster.
The artwork, though clean and strong, seems impersonal, mechanical, done on a computer, not by hand. That aside, it proves that the association really doesn’t have a sense of their own history when it come to the importance that an artist and author like James has on the folks of Northern Nevada.
Such a huge missed opportunity and they won’t get another chance to make it right for another hundred years. Whadda damned shame.
The Old Blog in the Desert 
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