CODY - Artist Mike Poulsen was a young boy when his family moved to Cody from Ohio, and he knew right away he had come to the right place.

"I didn't want to go back East to a place where there were too many people and too much concrete," he said.

"This is where I've always thought I belonged," he said.

Poulsen was also where he belonged Thursday evening, as the honored artist of the 27th Annual Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale, which had its first viewing at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center.

Paintings, drawings, sketches and sculptures by more than 100 artists are on display in the show, and will go on sale Sept. 26 in a live auction that attracts collectors and lovers of Western art from across the country.

"It's just such a great mix of people from all over that really find this place attractive," he said of the artists and collectors who have made the show a major annual event in the world of Western art.

For Poulsen, the common thread that draws them all is a love of the land and its people.

"There's just so much to offer here. There's some of the most beautiful landscape you could ask for, from the high desert to the mountains. I just couldn't think of a more beautiful place to live and work," he said.

Poulsen, who grew up on on the South Fork of the Shoshone River near Castle Rock, said being chosen as the show's honored artist was a thrill, particularly when so many great artists call the area home.

"The community here has always built itself on strong Western roots, and the art that has developed here is very much in keeping with that," said sculptor Steve Schrepferman.

Schrepferman's work is included in this year's show, and he has served on the volunteer committee that organizes the event. He is also the director of the Park County Arts Council.

He said the show, as well as the other events that are part of Cody's Rendezvous Royale week celebrating the arts, helps spotlight members of the local arts community, who typically keep a low profile the other 51 weeks of the year.

"It has become a wonderful event and fundraiser. And for local artists, it brings in an awful lot of people who are here for a short period of time with their focus being the art," he said.

The show benefits the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce, as well as the artists whose work is sold.

But it also helps fund the Park County Arts Council and the Cody Country Art League, said Carri Dobbins, who coordinates the event along with Kathy Thompson.

The show is popular because it is a large, fast-moving, live auction, while many other shows have switched to silent auctions or other formats, she said.

"We get a lot of comments back from guests who say we are the most fun show they go to," Dobbins said.

Schrepferman said the usual capacity crowd of 800 raucous art lovers may appear loud and distracted, but when a particular piece comes up for bids, attendees will become laser-focused.

Many serious collectors attend the show, where $150 buys you dinner, drinks and a chance to bid, but the last few years have sold out, so it's important to register early, Dobbins said.

Nearly a third of the more than 100 featured artists are from Park County, she said.

"We are lucky in this area that we have so many great artists," Dobbins said.