Mamas, it’s time to let your babies be cowboys.
The 109th “Daddy of ‘Em All” thunders from the chutes today as Cheyenne welcomes the world to its famous Frontier Days. Thousands of visitors will descend upon Wyoming’s capital for a taste of our rich Western heritage, sampled through a week’s worth of rodeos, Indian dancing, carnival rides, parades, pancake breakfasts and concerts by top country stars.
For folks who have lived in the West their whole lives – or just unpacked their bags – Cheyenne Frontier Days offers a glimpse of a time when working cowboys outnumbered urban cowboys.
The rodeo was created by boosters in 1897 to help a struggling Cheyenne stay on the map. Over the years, it’s hosted some of the sport’s biggest stars, from Slim Pickens and Casey Tibbs to Ty Murray and the late Lane Frost. It’s grown into such a spectacle that it takes 2,000 volunteers to pull it off.
The event begins in earnest today with the first rodeo, and runs through the final go-round July 31. Aside from today’s scorching temperatures, it looks as if the weather will cooperate for those cowboys and cowgirls in their dusty Wranglers and long-sleeved shirts. They’re likely to get some relief, with highs forecast in the low to mid-80s.
The Denver Post Train to Frontier Days has long been part of the annual Cheyenne tradition. It was scheduled to chug out of Union Station early this morning carrying more than 700 Coloradans in 17 vintage passenger cars. The train, inaugurated in 1908 by The Post’s then-owners, Harry H. Tammen and Frederick G. Bonfils, was a Denver tradition until 1970. It was resurrected for the paper’s 100th anniversary in 1992 and has been a hit with rodeo fans and train buffs ever since.
So saddle up – it’s time to rodeo.
