The lead up: Boots, jeans, and cowboy hats are the dress code all week long for Western Week, which starts with a Cowboy Kickoff Party on March 20. The preliminaries include a midweek trail ride at Smoke Tree Stables, a charity BBQ party, and a golf tourney at Indian Canyon Golf Club. Or try your luck at the Spa Resort Casino. And you can’t leave town until you ride the Palm Springs Tram Cable Car to the top of spectacular Mt. San Jacinto. The two mountaintop restaurants are great for dinnertime views. Kick your boots up Thursday night at the Western VillageFest street dance downtown.

Saturday: Old West meets New West at the Western Design Expo at the Palms Springs Convention Center and the Renaissance Hotel, which showcases top Western designers, including Nashville’s famous Manuel Collection, the Tres Outlaws Boot Company, and Montecristi Hat Company of Santa Fe. The event also includes the fun Rancho Deluxe Fashion Show. More Western goodies are steps away at the outdoor Vendor Village. You and your belly be the judge at the Taste of the West BBQ competition. And keep the kids enthralled with Westfest’s Interactive Entertainment, featuring an Old West blacksmith, the Buckaroo Roper, and a hands-on Pioneer Living Program.

Sunday: Walk the Gene Autry Trail in Palm Springs, a street named for America’s Favorite Singing Cowboy. WestFest also features the weekend-long Gene Autry FilmFest, with restored films and episodes of his popular TV series and the new documentary, Oh, You Cowgirl. Western singer-songwriter Juni Fisher narrates this profile of the history of women in rodeo. Fisher is among the headliners of the TwangFest—three days of performances by some of the finest roots musicians you’ll hear anywhere. “Harmonicowboy” Gary Allegretto, fiddler extraordinaire Richard Chon and the Saddle Cats are on the bill. And, of course, the centerpiece of WestFest (palmspringswestfest.com) is the three-day, PRCA-sanctioned Frank Bogert Memorial Rodeo. Sunday’s finale will include the Mexican-flavored Fiesta Del Charro rodeo performance.