Kansas Farmers Union will host “Singing the Cattle North,” a presentation and discussion by Jim Hoy at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Flying W Ranch, 1515 G Rd, Cedar Point. Members of the community are invited to attend the free program. Contact the Kansas Farmers Union at 785-840-6202 or visit kansasfarmersunion.org for more information. The program is made possible by the Kansas Humanities Council.  
Hoy’s presentation is part of Adventure Day in the Flint Hills. The day is comprised of tours of Pioneer Bluffs, Cottonwood Falls, and the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve before arriving at the Flying W Ranch for supper. Evening entertainment includes Hoy and Annie Wilson, the Flint Hills Balladeer. The day’s events are open to the public. Meals and tours have a fee, but the evening entertainment is free.  
Cowboy folksongs were more than entertainment on the lonely prairie: they told the story of a way of work that has since changed radically. Hoy will discuss the musical culture of yesterday’s cattle drovers and why their trail-driving songs, night-herding songs, and bunkhouse/chuckwagon songs still appeal to Kansas ranchers of today.
An authority on the folklife of ranching, Jim Hoy is a professor of English and the director of the Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University. He has lectured internationally on the folklife of ranching and is the co-author of “Plains Folk,” a syndicated newspaper column.  
“The cowboy has become an internationally recognized symbol of America, and his music gives us insight into how this icon developed,” said Hoy.  
“Singing the Cattle North” is part of the Kansas Humanities Council’s The Way We Worked Speakers Bureau, featuring presentations and discussions examining the theme of work and working in Kansas and how these stories help define us.
The Kansas Humanities Council conducts and supports community-based programs, serves as a financial resource through an active grant-making program, and encourages Kansans to engage in the civic and cultural life of their communities. For more information about KHC programs contact the Kansas Humanities Council at 785/357-0359 or visit online at www.kansashumanities.org.  
For more information about “Singing the Cattle North” at the Flying W Ranch contact the Kansas Farmers Union at 785-840-6202 or visit kansasfarmersunion.org.