DON’T MISS IT: Mexican rodeo is riding high
The Mexican Rodeo Extravaganza is held the first weekend of the National Western, once on Saturday and once on Sunday. The event celebrates the charro, the Latino cowboy who introduced horses, cattle, sheep and other livestock to the American West. Spanish and English announcers share the booth, and there is a live mariachi band along with costumes, horseman- ship, roping and bronc busting. The event’s creator, Jerry Diaz, started at the National Western in 1987 as a one-man act. In 1994 he expanded the show, and it has grown in popularity every year since.
100 AND COUNTING: NUMBERS FROM THE NWSS
17%: Increase in horse entries over last year
14%: Increase in cattle entries over last year
10: Number of horse breed and discipline shows
19: Breeds of cattle at the livestock show
15,000: Animals at the shows
16: Number of days National Western runs
84.1: Millions of dollars in economic impact
620,000: Visitors expected
40: Countries represented by those visitors
THE COWBOY WAY: Rodeo rhymes
The 17th Annual Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering is Thursday through Jan. 15 at the Arvada Center. The four-day event features 38 performing groups from 15 states, Canada and Australia who capture the spirit and lifestyle of their Western heritage through poetry, song and verse. Tickets are $12 per day for an all-day pass. Tickets for evening and matinee performances on the main stage are $26. For more information, call the Arvada Center box office at 720-898-7200 or visit www. arvadacenter.org/cowboy.
Schedule
TODAY
7 a.m. – Quarter Horse Western Performance Classes
9 a.m. – Gelbvieh Pen Show
– Poultry Show Judging
– South Devon Show
10 a.m. – Fellowship of Christian Cowboys Service – Mass
Noon – Fiddle Contest
1 p.m. – National Salers Sale Cattle Evaluation
2 p.m. – (T) $15,000 Dodge Invitational Freestyle Reining
2:30 p.m. – (T) Mexican Rodeo Extravaganza
3 p.m. – Limousin Sale Cattle Parade
– National Gelbvieh Junior Heifer Show
5 p.m. – United States Equestrian Federation – Open Reining Championship Qualifier followed by the Young Rider Medal
6 p.m. – Dog Agility Games
– Quarter Horse Junior Horse Reining Class
6:30 p.m. – (T) ProRodeo
7 p.m. – National Gelbvieh Sale
MONDAY
8 a.m. – Team Penning
9 a.m. – Miniature Horse Demonstration
– National Gelbvieh Show
– National Salers Futurity Bull Show
10:30 a.m. – National Salers Pen Bull Show
1 p.m. – South Devon Sale
2 p.m. – Limousin Junior Heifer Show
4 p.m. – National Salers Sale
6 p.m. – Limousin Sale
– Paint Horse Roping and Western Riding Classes
7:30 p.m. – (T) Professional Bull Riders Denver Chute-Out
