"Saddle of Honor" Event for a Montana Cowboy

8/9/2018

On Friday, September 7, in Great Falls, the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and the C.M. Russell Museum will host a pilot project to announce the first “Saddle of Honor” to be awarded to a famous Montana cowboy to celebrate the cowboy as epitomizing the “Art and Soul of the American West.”

Open to the public, the special event begins at 12:30 p.m. with a chuck wagon barbeque at the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls. It will be followed by a ceremony and donation of a very special replica of Charlie Russell’s saddle, which is currently owned by Nat Owings and Tom Petrie. The saddle is one of 16 replicas of Charlie’s personal saddle. This saddle was commissioned by the Charlie Russell Riders as a tribute to founder and former C.M. Russell Museum Board member, the late Steven L. Rose. Rose was recognized in 2009 with the Josephine Trigg Award for his support of the museum.

The Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame will then announce the name of the Montana cowboy to receive the first “Saddle of Honor,” which will be offered to the C.M. Russell Museum’s permanent collection.

As a pilot project, the event is part of discussions currently taking place between the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Russell Museum to find a home for all honorees of the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Following the ceremony, the museum will be open to the public to view the landmark exhibition Charles M. Russell: The Women in His Life and Art and its fall exhibition Indian Country: The Art of David Bradley.

Both organizations share the mission of honoring the Montana cowboy as integral to defining the values of the “Soul of the American West.”

Tickets to the chuck wagon barbeque are $15 each. Please call Jessica Nebel, C.M. Russell Museum executive assistant, at 406-727-1939 by Thursday, August 30 to RSVP and purchase tickets.