Cheyenne's Cowboy Classic
Cheyenne's Cowboy Classic
Pennants bearing bucking horses hang from light poles above the streets of Cheyenne, Wyo. (pop. 53,011), as visitors wearing cowboy hats crowd sidewalks for the town’s annual celebration—Cheyenne Frontier Days. Renowned as the world’s largest outdoor rodeo, the 10-day July event features nine rodeo performances, 1,600 cowboys, 360 bucking bulls and a $1 million purse.
"It’s a real cowboy event," says Frank Thompson, a Cheyenne resident who competes in the rodeo’s steer wresting competition. "There’s a lot more horsemanship involved in trying to win something in Cheyenne."
Horsemanship comes into play because of the size of the rodeo’s arena, which at 600-feet-long is more than twice that of the standard 250-foot rodeo arena. Thompson says that in his competition, a steer is given a longer head start on the cowboys—30 feet, compared to 10 feet at most rodeos. "It means a lot in the rodeo world to have a Cheyenne buckle," he says of the winner’s trophy.
The sizable arena also gives bulls and broncs more room to buck. "Our rodeo reflects the history of how cowboys worked," Arena Director Tom Hirsig says. "When they worked cattle, they weren’t in a 250-foot pen."
The origins of Frontier Days date back to 1897, when a one-day rodeo was held as a way to bring travelers to the sparsely populated railroad town. It was an immediate success, and by 1919 the rodeo had gained worldwide recognition as the largest rodeo in the West, earning it the nickname the "Daddy of ‘Em All." The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association-sanctioned event continues to be Cheyenne’s main attraction, drawing so many cowboys that eight daily rodeo performances are required to accommodate all of the competitors, and a ninth championship event to determine the overall winners.
Frontier Days, scheduled July 22 to July 31, also expands beyond the rodeo into a community-wide celebration that includes musical concerts, a carnival, four parades, pancake breakfasts and a chuck-wagon cookoff.
"The size of the community doubles during Frontier Days," Mayor Jack Spiker says. "At one of the night concerts, there are 24,000 people—and we’re a community of 53,000."
The key to the event’s success falls on the shoulders of more than 2,500 volunteers. This includes an 11-member all-volunteer committee, which oversees every aspect of Frontier Days.
"It could never happen without the volunteers," says Hirsig, who is the fourth generation of his family to donate his time as the rodeo’s arena director. His grandfather’s uncle, Charlie Hirsig, was one of the event’s first stock contractors.
Volunteers handle everything from selling tickets to picking up trash on the rodeo grounds. "One year you’re in charge of everything, and the next, you’re helping take out the garbage," says Bill Dubois, a Cheyenne historian and Frontier Days volunteer.
For 40 years, Dubois has sung the national anthem to start each rodeo. The great-grandson of Col. E.A. Slack, the newspaper publisher who helped found Frontier Days, Dubois has overseen everything from ticketing to public relations. In 1978, Dubois was instrumental in establishing the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum, which is open year-round to showcase the history of the event and the Old West.
Residents volunteer just to be part of a 108-year-old tradition, "They do it because of the pride they get in being part of this great Western celebration," says Ken McCann, the 2004 chairman of the event’s general committee. "A lot of volunteers are families and generations of families."
Yet even those who don’t volunteer for Frontier Days can appreciate its significance, McCann says.
"I think there are a lot of people who are not necessarily involved in it who still take pride in the fact that Cheyenne is home to Cheyenne Frontier Days," McCann says. "If you want to see a rodeo, this is the one to see."
For more information, log on to www.cfdrodeo.com, or call (800) 227-6336.
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