From wikipedia:
"Cheyenne Frontier Days, held annually since 1897, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA, claims to be one of the largest outdoor rodeo and western celebration in the world. The event, which occurs during 10 days centered around the last full week in July, draws an estimated 300,000 people to the area every year. Lodging fills up quickly during the peak tourist season throughout southern and eastern Wyoming and even into Colorado and Nebraska."


I live 90 minutes from Cheyenne, and my town, Estes Park, has its own annual rodeo, a lead-in to Frontier Days. I'm sure many of the participants compete in both events. Here is the history of the Rooftop Rodeo:


"The earliest reference to a rodeo-type celebration in Estes Park was recorded in The Mountaineer (June 25, 1908), "Estes Park is now assured of a lively time on the fourth of July. Arrangements have been completed for the 'Frontier Day' celebration, to be held at 2 0'clock in the afternoon of that day, at the Base Ball Park, beside the 'lane,' one quarter of a mile east of town. The affair will be a genuine old fashioned "Wild West" exhibition, featuring some noted riders and horses in a Bronco Busting contest. The very best local riders have registered for the contest, and some bad 'outlaw' horses are being rounded up. A few of the most famous riders from the near parts of Colorado and Wyoming have also agreed to ride and are bringing good bucking horses. Besides the Bronco Busting contest, there will be a great many thrilling and amusing western ranch features such as roping and branding and steer riding."

Note the reference to Frontier Days; Estes Park wanted a piece of that action. This 1908 article was five years before my houses were built six miles east of Estes Park.

My own connection to Cheyenne Frontier Days is in the form of someone else's mementos. Years ago I came home from an estate auction with a treasure box that had belonged to an attorney I'd never heard of in Denver, Colorado.

In the 1950s he took the Frontier Days special train from Denver to Cheyenne. Back then, it was by invitation only, and all the movers and shakers like Dwight D. Eisenhower were on it (his wife was a Denver native). According to a history program I saw last night some of the cars were men-only, a big networking opportunity and deals were made. Of course the word 'networking' had not been invented yet. There was co-ed dancing in a couple of emptied-out baggage cars, and it was all one big party. I'm pretty sure when the program started talking about the train, it said it was men-only, so maybe the women dancing with the men were party girls.

Anyhow, among other things in the treasure box is the invitation to the train ride, a cocktail napkin, and a swizzle stick from fifty years earlier. Every year when the Denver Post ran a story about the Frontier Days Train I added the article to the box. One July night when we were watching the Rockies baseball team play, here came the train from Wyoming chugging toward Denver's Union Station bringing the weary partiers home. It completed my vicarious memory.

I've stopped adding stories to the box, but still have it around here somewhere and someone will buy it at my estate auction. I hope they appreciate what they've got.