Cheyenne Frontier Days remains “Daddy of ’em All”

CHEYENNE – For more than a century now, Cheyenne Frontier Days has brought the colorful world of the cowboy to the world at large, and the 102nd annual “Daddy of ’em All” this year will be no exception.

Once again, the top rodeo cowboys and cowgirls will ride into Cheyenne the last full week of July (July 17-26 this year) for the world’s largest outdoor professional rodeo and western celebration – 10 days and nights of the best in rodeo, country & western entertainment, and Western Americana.

But whoa up, pardner! If you’re new to the Northern Front Range, don’t mistake Frontier Days for just another community rodeo and celebration. Frontier Days earned the title “Daddy of ’em All” back in 1919 for being the biggest and the best, and it works hard every year to retain it.

More than 1,200 cowboys and cowgirls will be competing for a $600,000 purse, one of the largest on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association circuit, but winning a buckle in Cheyenne is worth as much in prestige as the paycheck. Cheyenne is a major stop on the circuit for competitors and fans alike.

But since that first humble one-day event in 1897, Frontier Days has grown to include much more than rodeo. Night shows were added in 1929, and this year’s lineup sports such stars as Alan Jackson, Patty Loveless and Vince Gill, Faith Hill and Trace Adkins, the Kinleys and Clay Walker, Neal McCoy, Mark Chesnutt and John Michael Montgomery. And, oh yes, Sawyer Brown and Bachman Turner Overdrive, continuing a tradition of opening the week with a rock night show.

Add in the clowns, the chuckwagon racing, Indian dancing, four parades, three free pancake breakfasts, the Air Force Thunderbirds Air Show, a major Western art show and more and you have a world-class event that mixes tradition with innovation and draws visitors from around the globe by providing something for everybody.

“One of the biggest things we have going for us is that value equation – there’s something for everyone, a lot of it’s free and even the parts that aren’t free are a heckuva good deal,´ said Stephanie Kornblum, Frontier Days’ marketing manager. “You get your money’s worth, and you can afford to bring a family, and that’s important. That’s been a goal for a long time.”

When Frontier Days celebrated its 100th anniversary two years ago, a record 232,000 rodeo and night-show tickets were sold. The Frontier Committee was prepared for a drop last year, but 188,000 tickets still ranked among the top five years, and they are hoping to repeat that performance again this year.

Advance ticket sales are running a few points behind last year’s pace, possibly because of cool weather in June and the fact that Frontier Days starts nearly a week early this year, but Frontier Days officials are confident that sales will pick up.

In the early 1980s, when Frontier Days was riding the crest of John Travolta and the “Urban Cowboy” craze, it cracked the 190,000-ticket mark, “and nobody in their wildest dreams ever thought we’d come close to that number again,” noted Dave Johansen, the executive director.

“But in the early ’90s, we cracked the 200,000 mark, so I’m not so certain that 1996 number is sacred,” Johansen added. “The 1981 numbers were a goal, and we reached it, and there should be no reason why that 1996 number shouldn’t also be a goal.”

In fact, Frontier Days officials remain confident that the Daddy of ’em All will continue to thrive, despite increasing competition for entertainment dollars along the Front Range.

“Over the past five years, they’ve added two new professional sports teams in Denver, and they both aim their market at our market, Denver and the Front Range and even Wyoming and western Nebraska,´ said Scott Binning, chair of the Frontier Days public-relations committee. “It’s serious competition, and the fact that we’re doing as well as we are is a credit to the credibility and tradition of the event, as well as the fact that we don’t sit back, we do some serious marketing.”

“There’s a ton of events,” Kornblum agreed. “If you think about the number of large-scale events being supported by the Front Range corridor communities, it’s staggering. But if we do our job and earn our name as the Daddy of ’em All, that’s what gets people here.”

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