How many volunteers does it take to stage the biggest cowboy
party on earth?
Would you
believe 2,500 men, women and even a few children?
Cheyenne was
transformed from July 18-29 as the 122nd version of what is called
“The Daddy of them All” rodeo and other events took place.
It had been a
few years since Nancy and I made the 250-mile drive from Lander to the capital
city to enjoy the early days of the 11-day series of events.
The art show
on July 18-19 was spectacular with crowds of people visiting with artists from
all over the West. Some 280 works were on display, which totaled over $1
million in value.
We spent the
opening weekend at Frontier Days and took in the first rodeo and three
concerts.
We got drenched
at the end of the rodeo. Then my new best friend Buddy Hirsig rescued Nancy and
me and hauled us to our car. He was appropriately wearing a slicker. We, of
course, were not wearing any jackets.
Buddy is part
of a huge family tradition with generations having worked Frontier Days. Buddy
served as Arena Director for 37 years and his son Tom is now the CEO of
Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Buddy’s
grandfather, Fred Hirsig, was on the original committee. Now Buddy’s own grandchildren
are learning the ropes in the arena. This
is an amazing five-generation family, which typifies the tradition and
excellence that makes this the greatest Cowboy Show in the World.
The cowboys
have to be tough to compete in this rodeo. Massive bulls shake and shimmy
throwing grown men into the air like leaves blowing in the wind. The bareback bronco riders are truly made of
rubber as they get slammed around.
Earlier this
year a cowboy was killed in a rodeo in Saratoga. It is frankly surprising that
does not happen more frequently. It is a
thrilling sport but it can scare the heck out of you.
The Cheyenne
arena is the biggest in the world and features huge video screens with instant
replay. My brother Ron operates one of
those video cameras. Most of the seats are covered so even a thunderstorm did
not slow things down. The cowboys
working the arena just put on their slickers and kept on going.
The numbers
associated with CFD are immense. The big show provides a $28 million impact to
the local area with $550,000 raised in local taxes and $650,000 in state taxes.
Crowds usually exceed 400,000.
One announcer
at a concert, who is a big-time disc jockey in Denver, credited Cheyenne
profusely: “Thank you Cheyenne for doing this.
We don’t have anything like this in Colorado!” The crowd of greenies
roared.
We took a
break on Sunday and visited my 94-year old mom in north Denver. Traffic was
horrible on Interstate 25 because of all the Frontier Days visitors. We actually stopped dead in place three
times. Although we know CFD draws a terrific number of Wyoming folks, it is no
secret that having the Colorado border 10 miles south of town provides for over
100,000 fans from that state alone.
The parade
featured 200 entries and more horses than any other parade in the world. Also, the collection of famous restored
carriages in Cheyenne is rated second in the world. The parade was
entertaining.
Our favorite
concert was by 81-year old Charlie Daniels, who performed in a driving
rainstorm. What a great musician and
showman! He first performed at CFD in 1979, some 39 years ago. As he told the
crowd, “I been coming here longer than some of you have been alive.”
Our other
concerts were Florida-Georgia Line and Cole Swindell, both of which were also terrific. But on the advice of my Cheyenne friend Darin
Smith, I wore earplugs. Yeah, it was
really, really loud. But wonderful shows.
Ran into old
friends Randy Wagner, Jeff Wallace and Mike Ceballos, who were all involved in
one way or another. Spent some quality time with Gov. Matt Mead at his
residence with a few hundred others at a cocktail party.
Ran into the
former Karen Hoopman at the art show, who now lives in Cheyenne. She and I went
to high school together in Elgin, Iowa about a century ago. Small world.
The midway at
Frontier Days is like nothing else. Just about everything western can be bought
there. And high quality, too.
At one point,
we decided to ride the Ferris Wheel. Sure was fun and the view was awesome
looking out at all those people, those cars and this massive facility. Whee!
What a tribute
CFD is to Cheyenne and Wyoming. We salute the 2,500 volunteers. There is
nothing else like it in the world.
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