Concho – Star of GoFundMe video for NDOC 2014 Hatch Fundraising Project

When you watch our inforConcho taking his bowmative and highly entertaining poster fundraising video at GoFundMe, you’ll notice that our newest NDOC Spokesperson, Concho, (Lee Anderson’s talented and beautiful rescued race horse), easily steals the show from the rest of us amateurs. As one of four co-stars, including Lee, Johnny Hotshot and Bethany Braley, I think you will agree, Concho takes his role seriously and plays it with eminent grace and class.

Yes! Since July 26th is the milestone 10th Annual National Day of the Cowboy, we’re already working on its official commemorative NDOC Hatch poster. And, because it is such a special rung in our ladder of success, this poster will have a little surprise for you to set itself apart from the previous eight posters in our fabulous series.

As many of you know, all of our Hatch posters (with the exception of the 2005), feature original artwork from a different artist from a different state. Each piece has a unique color scheme and new theme which supports the artwork itself. They are all made by hand, from hand-carved wood blocks, just as Hatch has been doing since 1879. The poster art to recognize our 10th year of celebration and work, will be created by a young talented Oklahoma artist named Tyler Crow. Tyler adds his name to our growing list of illustrious contributing artists, including Jennifer Ward 2006 – AZ, Teal Blake 2007-TX, Zane Mead 2008-NM, Christina Holmes 2009-CA, Jim Harrison 2010-FL, Jim Clements 2012-KS and Don Weller 2013-UT.

You’ll notice I skipped 2011 in that list, and the reason is, unfortunately, we did not have the funding to create a poster that year. However, as the NDOC continues to grow and as more people become supporting members and donors, we hope to rectify that situation and someday create a 2011 to eliminate the gap. Our long term goal is to have 50 posters; one each by an artist from a different state. This is a national project that has ever been done before. Since creating our first poster however, paper, ink and printing costs have risen continually, making it a challenge to keep the series going, so we’ve launched a GoFundMe project to help offset the costs of creating and printing the 2014 poster.

Our GoFundMe campaign offers five different reward levels to potential donors. For example, the first $750 donor will receive a rare, full set of our posters (including a signed 2014), and, a newly released digitally remastered DVD of the entire first year’s episodes of The Rifleman. The DVD is thanks to Steve and Matt Gardner, who manage The Rifleman’s iconic legacy, as co-produced by Steve’s father, Arthur Gardner. This DVD of forty shows will also be hand-signed by Johnny Crawford, who played Lucas McCain’s son, Mark, in the series. And, it will be hand-signed by Jeff Connors, one of Chuck Connor’s sons in real life, who also played in three of the episodes as a child.

We’re offering four additional levels of rewards, including a retired 2008 National Day of the Cowboy membership pin for those who donate $10. Preview the video and more of the project details at http://www.gofundme.com/62mr30

Is it really possible that it’s the 10th Annual National Day of the Cowboy coming up July 26th? When we started this campaign, the thinking was it would probably take three years to secure permanent passage of the National Day of the Cowboy. Here we are into our tenth year though, and while seven states have passed it into permanent law, and we’re closer to making it a national reality, we’ve obviously got a ways to go. We need your financial help to keep the roots growing strong and steady. This is an all-volunteer effort, but there are many costs associated with it and selling these posters, all original works of art, helps us meet those financial obligations.

We’ve proven we’re serious about the NDOC campaign and you can be sure we will continue to work diligently to secure the 4th Saturday in July as the National Day of the Cowboy in more states. In fact, four more state legislators have confirmed they will work to pass it as a permanent bill in 2014. Also, three Texas legislators have agreed to sponsor it as a permanent bill in the Texas legislature when it next convenes in 2015. With enough states accepting the National Day of the Cowboy in perpetuity, or perhaps when all fifty are finally on board, Congress should be more than willing to recognize the National Day of the Cowboy permanently as well. We’re asking for your support to help ensure we can make that happen. Please donate today.