Cheyenne Frontier Days™ (Part I)

In 1897, as Wyoming was still a young state and Cheyenne's economy was reeling from the Panic of 1993, the town's new mayor and leading businessmen sought a way to attract outside business and turned to the idea of holding a fair in Cheyenne after a trip to a Greeley fair in Colorado. Traveling Passenger Agent Frederick W. Angier of the Union Pacific Railroad arrived from Denver on August 30 with the mission of establishing the event, inspired by watching cowboys trying to load range horses into a train stockcar and believing people would pay to see such action. Pioneer Park, also called Talbot's Grove, was secured as the site, donations of just over $500 were raised, the town was decorated, posters were spread along the rail lines, and more than 1,600 train tickets were sold from Denver. On September 23, whistles blew, church bells rang, and a cannon shot opened the first Frontier Days, with cowboys arriving from within 50 miles trailing their worst buckers, steers provided for roping, troops and a band from Fort D.A. Russell, and crowds coming on foot, by buggy, and by rail. In the 1920s, called the Golden Age of Rodeo, the Frontier Days Committee led management of the event, while promoters such as Tim McCoy and T. Joe Cahill helped publicize Cheyenne and its rodeo, with Cahill later credited with coining the phrase "Daddy of 'em All." Over time, the rodeo added features including Frontier Nights, later Night Shows, Canadian chuckwagon racing, the long association with U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds performances, the Indian Village, and Wild Horse Gulch. Cheyenne Frontier Days came to be regarded as one of the best large outdoor rodeos in the world, launching many rodeo careers and, despite the sport's dangers, seeing relatively few fatalities over more than 100 years.

Cheyenne, Wyoming · United States