The stockyards were empty and shoppers haggled for last-minute bargains Sunday afternoon as the 16-day National Western Stock Show & Rodeo came to a close.
Attendance, at 643,100 visitors, was down 4.5 percent from last year but topped the 600,000 mark for the 12th consecutive year.
The show’s president and chief executive, Pat Grant, said he was pleased with the showing, given the dismal economy. He was still excited over the standing ovation that ended the last of 23 rodeos.
“The atmosphere was electric,” he said Sunday evening of the sold-out show. “You couldn’t have scripted a better ending to this year’s show.”
Grant had been accompanied by Gov. Bill Ritter, speaker of the state House Terrance Carroll and former University of Denver Chancellor Daniel Ritchie.
As they left, Ritchie said, “Everybody in Colorado should see this,” Grant recalled.
The stock show’s financial numbers won’t be available for a few weeks, but Grant said the show should do OK. He said cattle sales were down “a little bit” this year, reflective of the overall cattle market.
Each year, proceeds from the nonprofit show fund dozens of agriculture-related scholarships to colleges in Wyoming and Colorado.
“We were a little concerned at the beginning,” Grant said of the first six days, when attendance was off by about 10 percent. “But we built momentum as we went on and finished with a much better show than we could have expected, given the economic conditions many families are facing.”
Weather was conducive to big crowds. Some days were shirt-sleeve weather, with temperatures in the 50s and 60s. Only one day, the first Monday, had any significant snow, and flurries fell on the last Friday night and Sunday.
Historic blizzards hobbled the 2007 show and took a bite out of the bottom line. Heating and labor costs resulted in an operating loss of $556,000 — the first such loss in the show’s modern history.
In 2008, the National Western recorded a net gain of $184,000 on revenue of $14.1 million.
“I’ve seen better years,” said vendor Pat Hartford, as she organized her unsold housewares for packing after the show closed. “But compared to the rest of the economy, it’s not so bad. Coming out to the stock show is more fun than work, but it’s nice to make a good paycheck.”
Fans didn’t seem disappointed either.
“We love it. We never miss it, and I doubt we’ll skip one,” said Harv Simkins of Wheat Ridge, who came to the show four times this year with his wife, Patty, and an assortment of family and friends.
They had put off seeing a rodeo until Sunday.
“He grew up rodeoing, and I grew up watching him,” said Patty Simkins, an Eastern Plains native. “You don’t get to see the animals and the country in Denver, so this is a treat for us every year.”
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
