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Friday, April 8, 2016 V V V THE GAZETTE, EMPORIA, KANSAS V V Page 3 V HOY BOOK SIGNING AT TPNP ‘PICKIN’ AND GRINNIN’ AT THE PROM P H O T O S B Y C A T H R Y N E S C H A R T O N / G A Z E T T E Special to The Gazette Come to the Preserve on Saturday to hear Jim Hoy present “Singing the Cattle North” from 11 a.m. to noon in the visitor center conference room. A book signing will immediately follow the presentation. Bring a copy of one of Dr. Hoy’s books or purchase “Flint Hills Cowboy, Tales from the Tallgrass Prairie” from the Preserve’s bookstore. “The cowboy has become an internationally recognized symbol of America, and his music gives us insight into how this icon developed,” says Hoy. In his talk, “Singing the Cattle North,” Hoy explores how cowboy folksongs were more than entertainment on the lonely prairie. Through trail-driving songs, night-herding songs, and bunkhouse/chuckwagon songs, cattle drovers produced a musical culture that still appeals to today’s ranchers who have traded their horses for four-wheelers and six-guns for cell phones. Hoy is a retired professor of English at Emporia State University. An authority on the folk life of ranching, he has published 12 books and over 100 articles on the topic. Come to the preserve and learn about the life and times of the American cowboy. In celebration of the National Park Service 2016 Centennial and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve’s 20 year anniversary, the preserve invites the public to discover the meaning of national parks both in personal connections and memorable COURTESY PHOTO Jim Hoy, Emporia State University emeritus professor of English and director of the Center for Great Plains Studies, will speak, sing and sign at the Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve Saturday. experiences. The preserve is located two miles north of Strong City on Kansas State Highway 177 (the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway) and is a unique public/private partnership between the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy.  For additional information on Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, please visit www.nps.gov/tapr, email tapr_interpretation@ nps.gov, call the preserve at 620-273-8494, or visit the preserve’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NPS. TallgrassPrairie. To learn more about The Nature Conservancy in Kansas, visit the Conservancy’s website at www.nature.org/Kansas or Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TNCKansas. COUNTY F