As showtime neared Saturday, Denver’s National Western Complex looked like backstage at an opening- night production of “Oklahoma.”
Cowboys, clothiers and rodeo queens seemed much more business- like than they would minutes later when the curtain lifted on the 103rd National Western Stock Show, Rodeo and Horse Show, when their focus turned to smiles.
“It’s crazy, ain’t it?” vendor Marlene Miller asked rhetorically as she propped herself against the glass of a jewelry counter to peer down one of the dozens of shopping aisles in the Hall of Education.
Tens of thousands of ranchers, cowpokes and city folks were expected for Saturday’s opening, which will draw upward of 600,000 visitors over its 16-day run.
The show runs from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the weekends.
Darrell and Charlotte White of Gypsum were among the first in the door at 9 a.m., herding their grown daughters and five grandchildren.
The group made a beeline to the booth for the Cheyenne Frontier Days to collect the freebies, including rodeo bandanas, sheriff’s badges and posters.
Six-year-old A.J. Shields has been to the stock show three times in six years, but his 3-year-old sister, Fiona, hasn’t missed a one in her lifetime.
“This is an annual event for us,” said their mother, Renee Shields, who has been a stock show-goer since she was a child. “The kids just love it — the rodeo, the tractors, the animals, you name it.”
Others came for bargains.
“It’s the best mall in the world,” said Ellen Berger-Wayne, a “ranch wife” from Wyoming, as she browsed the booths.
Mariane Sasak, owner of Steamboat Ranch Wear, was busy setting up her massive display of men’s and women’s clothing in the far-right corner of the Hall of Education, in preparation for those with cash to spend.
Her clothing store sells only at stock shows — in Denver, in Las Vegas and in Rapid City, S.D. She was wary of what the down economy might do to this year’s sales from the two 22-foot trailers’ worth of stock she had unpacked since Monday.
But she found reason for optimism.
“Ranch people tend to budget for this show, and they’re not out of work,” she said. “City people are a different matter, but fortunately Denver hasn’t been as hard-hit as other places in the country, like the Midwest.”
In addition to two and sometimes three sessions of the nation’s top indoor rodeo each day, an array of food awaits visitors, from a stable of burgers and dogs, to Denver’s famous Duffey Rolls.
But the hundreds of vendors, food and festivities are only context to the show’s real purpose — education — organizers and volunteers stressed.
Veteran stock show volunteer Keith Chamberlain, a retired teacher, grabbed a last-minute cinnamon roll Saturday morning before heading to the Ames Activity Pavilion. There, thousands of children will participate in stick-horse rodeos, meet “super dogs” and meet and greet a real rodeo clown each day.
“It’s all about the kids,” he said, with a smile as broad as Texas.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
