Cheyenne Frontier Days - Brief Article

Travel America, July, 2000 by Patrick Soran

Lasso some of Wyoming's wild & Wool fun

Everyone who sees a Wyoming license plate gets a glimpse of Cheyenne Frontier Days, the capital's 10-day rodeo whoop-it-up. The bright red bronco bucking a cowboy there represents Steamboat, one of the meanest, orneriest, buckin'-est broncs that ever pitched a cattle-puncher headlong into the dust. Even though that was back around the turn of the century, little has changed in Wyoming. Every July, cowboys still try to hang on to half-wild horses while fans spur them on at Cheyenne Frontier Days.

I expected big crowds as I cruised through Wyoming's sagebrush flats headed for Cheyenne. The city never seemed overrun, though, perhaps because the shindig's planners spread the rodeo--dubbed "Daddy of 'Em All"--across 10 summer afternoons, this year from July 21 through July 30. Then they schedule special events like parades and pancake breakfasts every other morning. This ensures that their 2,500 volunteers don't exhaust themselves. And their guests--and they do treat visitors like welcomed guests--can get a good-size slice of Western-style amusement in only two or three days.

On my way into town I stopped in at the Terry Bison Ranch for a Wild West sampler. I did a little trout fishing in their pond, rode a wagon into their bison herd, and took a horseback ride in Wyoming's rolling hills. I had a steak and beans for lunch.

Then I headed straight for Frontier Park to catch the daily Frontier Days' rodeo installment. Here a cloudburst of billowing cowboy hats covered the heads of all different kinds of folks: couples corralling kids, teenagers on dates, and folks who had just hitched up and sashayed out of their RVs.

I asked several people, men and women, about their favorite rodeo event and every one agreed bull riding was the best. "If you put a man on top of two tons of angry bull, things are bound to get pretty exciting," said one buckaroo.

After a dip in the pool at the Hitchin' Post Inn, I ambled around downtown. I ogled belt buckles the size of dinner plates and tried on $600 handmade felt hats.

On my next visit to Cheyenne, I want to sample one of its charming bed-and-breakfasts. I have my eye on the 1888 Nagle Warren Mansion, the lavishly restored residence of Francis E. Warren, a Wyoming governor and U.S. senator. Furnished with Victorian antiques, the elegant 14-room inn is right out of the days of Western artist Charles Russell.

Come sun up, I joined the line downtown for the free pancake breakfast. First you get a load of fluffy flapjacks, then a dot of butter, a double-glug of syrup, a slice of ham, and finally a glass of milk. The best part of the meal--possibly the highlight of the trip--is watching the chefs deftly flip flapjacks over their heads into waiting trays bandied about by bustling Boy Scouts. In Cheyenne, they must give a merit badge for hotcake catching.

The rest of the morning I explored the Old West Museum right on the Frontier Park grounds. The museum documents the history of rodeo and frontier life in the Old West. And youngsters seem to like the "Hole in the Wall" kids room, where they learn about Western history by actually experiencing it.

The next day I caught the parade. "We have more carriages and more horses than any parade in the world," beamed volunteer Dave Coulson as more than 90 finely outfitted groups pranced by in the morning sun. "And each parade features nearly 1,500 people. Just think about it, that's 1,500 smiles and 3,000 waving hands."

For more information on Cheyenne Frontier Days, call (800) 227-6336 or key in www.cfdrodeo.com.