Today, the National Western Stock Show, Rodeo and Horse Show turns 100 – still going strong in a high-tech age when electronic entertainment keeps many folks glued to their couches.
The Stock Show harks back to the days when Denver stockyards were a key hub in getting cattle from Western ranches to America’s dining tables. Ranchers and cowboys gathered to show off their best animals and kick up their heels.
The rodeo, added to the National Western in 1931 as entertainment between horse- show classes, celebrates its 75th anniversary this year and has become one of the top events of the nation’s busy rodeo circuit.
For urban youngsters who think that meat comes vacuum-wrapped from the local supermarket, a stroll through the National Western Hall of Education gives a close-up look at champion-class animals that are at the heart of the livestock industry.
The National Western also provides a rare opportunity to see some of the country’s most beautiful horses. Even though our country long ago became a multi-car society, these intelligent creatures, an indispensable part of Western life and lore and the cowboy ethos, continue to exert a powerful draw on the American psyche.
The Mexican Rodeo Extravaganza, with performances this evening and tomorrow afternoon, is a colorful part of the National Western that reminds us that much of cowboy culture – including rodeo – is heavily indebted to the Spanish and Mexican vaquero traditions.
At noon Tuesday, the 2006 Downtown Denver Stock Show Parade will step off at Union Station at noon, led by former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell as grand marshal. The parade will feature a cattle drive of with 30 head of longhorns and 100 sheep being herded 17th Street.
Across the West, rodeo events provide a vicarious thrill for audiences as competitors pit their skills against raw muscle-power in bareback and saddle-bronc riding, bull-riding, bulldogging, roping, and barrel-racing contests.
Rodeo is unique among sports in that it evolved from skills used on working ranches.
The National Western is a fine place for a family to spend a day together and wear their cowboy duds. But the annual event also pumps at least $80 million into the local economy, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.
As the National Western enters its second century, show officials and city leaders are exploring an expansion of the 95-acre complex to take the annual celebration to the next level as a year-round rodeo and entertainment venue – something like the Calgary Stampede Park or the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo complex.
Happy 100th birthday, National Western, and welcome back to town!
