NATIONAL WESTERN STOCK SHOW 

News: It wasn’t just the art that people were talking about at Thursday night’s Red Carpet Reception for the 34^th Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale. 

A good number of the 1,000-plus guests were on their first visit to the show’s spacious new location on the second floor of The Legacy, the recently completed, four-story, $100 million world headquarters for the National Western Stock Show. 

And they were wowed by it. 

“This building is the destination to experience the American West,” declared Doug Jones, chairman of the National Western board of directors. In it, he said, visitors can be inspired and educated by immersing themselves in Western values and spirit, “The things that are important to humankind.” 

“I’ve been waiting four years for this to be completed,” added Adam Daurio, director of the Temple Grandin Equine Center that is located on the neighboring Colorado State University Spur Campus. And, he indicated, he could not be more pleased with the outcome. “It’s amazing.” 

“This year marks a pivotal time for us,” added Kate Hlavin, who became curator of the Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale in 2023. Moving into The Legacy “Is such a game-changer; it plays such a large part in elevating the quality of the show.” 

The 2026 show, Hlavin said, has “Ninety-three participating artists and 354 pieces of art with a great range of wildlife, landscape, sculpture and plastics.” 

It is open to the public during the Stock Show’s 16-day run, and its goal is to exceed $1 million in sales, with proceeds benefiting the National Western Scholarship Trust. 

“I’ve been to all 34 of these,” said Doug Jones, “And can honestly say that this year we have some of the best artists and the best art.”  

“It’s a great show,” said artist William Matthews, who had helped launch the fundraiser 34 years ago with Pat Grant, who was then president and chief executive officer of the National Western Stock Show, and Ann Daley, the show’s founding curator. Matthews was the event’s first featured artist. 

The 2026 featured artist is Logan Maxwell Hagege of Ojai, Calif., whose “stylized realism” is reflected in works such as his $85,000 “Springtime in the Rockies” and $18,500 “Indigo Stripes,” both for sale in the show. 

Hagege’s featured work, “Hopeless Dreamer,” was purchased for inclusion in the Stock Show’s Permanent Collection, located in the Katherine and J. Robert Wilson Art Gallery on The Legacy’s first floor. 

Guests at the Red Carpet Reception also received an autographed poster of “Hopeless Dreamer.” 

Others at the Red Carpet Reception included: 

• Advisory committee co-chairs Holly Anderson and Craig Harrison; 

• Pete Coors, chairman of the $150 million Honoring the Legacy, Building the Future Campaign, and his wife, Marilyn; 

• Brett Challenger, market president of CoBank, and his wife, Michelle; 

• Former Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives Terrance Carroll, a member of the National Western board of directors and the minister of social justice at New Hope Baptist Church; 

• Former Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown and his wife, Suzanne; 

•  Mike Ferrufino, president and chief executive officer of the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; 

• Amanda Blaurock, co-founder and chief executive officer of the Village Exchange Center; 

• Philanthropists Henry and Lorie Gordon, who were among the major donors to the NWSS Honoring the Legacy Campaign; 

• Kent Thiry, who with his wife, Denise O’Leary, was one of the show’s Pioneer Patrons; 

• Walker Monfort, executive vice president of the Colorado Rockies, and his wife, CBS Colorado meteorologist Lauren Whitney; 

• Silver Patron Nancy Gooding 

• Friend of the West patrons Ann Benson Reidy and Kevin Reidy 

• Carole Hayward, a past chair of another of the National Western Scholarship Trust fundraisers, the Citizen of the West Arrangements Committee 

• Brooke Fox, chief executive officer of the Colorado Agricultural Leadership Foundation and a member of the National Western board of directors; and 

•  Art and Baba Bosworth. Art, a fourth-generation Coloradan whose family pioneered businesses in law, real estate and investment banking, is the grandson of one of the original members of the National Western Stock Show. He’s also an attorney and a trustee of both the National Western Stock Show Association and the Buell Foundation. 

About the organization: The Coors Western Art Exhibit & Sale began in 1993 and has since grown into one of the nation’s premier events of its kind. Curated by Kate Hlavin, this annual event is open to the public during the run of the National Western Stock Show and features works by Western artists from throughout the nation. The money it raises from the sale of each year’s paintings, sculptures and photographs goes to the National Western Scholarship Trust. 

Website: coorswesternart.com

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