Cheyenne Frontier Days

Posted July 23, 2014 by Prairie Wife - 2 comments

The Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo is in the Guinness book of world records as the world’s largest outdoor rodeo, and while the rodeo is one of my favorite parts of this 10 day celebration there is so much more! The Cowboy, Cowkids and I headed down to Cheyenne this last weekend to enjoy all that Frontier Days has to offer. I would really encourage everyone to put it on your bucket list, it truly is amazing, and fun for the whole family. The Cowkids hit the carnival Friday night when the temperatures had cooled off, and we didn’t get back to the hotel room until 11! It’s the perfect amount of little kid and big kid rides and the Cowkids were all kept happy with cotton candy, lemonade, and funnel cakes. All that sugar is the probably the reason they made it so many hours past their bedtime! The next morning we were up bright and early to watch the parade, and I just had to share some pictures of what make this parade so special.

These Yellow tour buses were originally used to take visitors to Yellowstone National Park on road tours.

Does it get any better than a fiddling band? Their lively music truly brings the spirit of the old West to the parade.

There were dozens of beautiful restored carriages and coaches pulled by teams of horses but, for the sake of your time I picked just two of my favorites.

Aren’t theses Percheron horses stunning?

Can you imagine spending days stuffed in this coach with a bunch of strangers traveling across the Wyoming Prairie?

Bagpipes and the American flag always bring a tear to my eye…always!

There were multiple floats and vehicles that helped to share the history of our military. This ambulance from the Korean War was a really fun one to see.

As proud as we are of Wyoming, we aren’t scared to poke a little fun at ourselves, this one makes the whole crowd laugh!

Every afternoon at Cheyenne Frontier Days they have the rodeo, and it is always a blast! We left Cowboy C with CowGranny for the rodeo, it can be a bit much for an 18m old boy to sit through. I literally took hundreds of pictures but once again I will only share a few with you. Take a look at the official website to see a listing of all the events at the rodeo. Here is a wonderful link if you are interested in learning more about the history of the rodeo.

Cowboy W was absolutely enthralled with Rider Kiesner the World Champion trick roper that put on a show between events (check out his video)!

The bulls were amazing, and the cowboys did some great riding.

The excitement doesn’t stop after the Cowboy gets bucked off. The athleticism of the bullfighters as they put themselves in danger to keep the Cowboys safe is just as exciting as the 8 second ride!

The bronc riding was also fabulous. I love to watch it with The Cowboy who is a third generation bronc rider himself. I’ve learned so much about the sport from him.

I don’t think I need to even explain why this picture is so cool…

Bulldogging is one of my favorite things to watch. For this event two Cowboys head out after a calf and one Cowboy jumps off the horse and has to flip the calf onto it’s back. I know there are more technical terms for what happens, but that’s the gist of it. Here at Cheyenne Frontier Days they take their nickname “The Daddy of Them All” pretty seriously. Those sweet calves weigh between 300 and 700 pounds, and I have to say that on Sunday when we went, the Calves beat the Cowboys hands down! Here they all are heading down the arena and out of the chute.

Now they’ve caught up to the calf…

Now off goes the Cowboy…

And onto the calf. The Cowboy has his heels dug into the ground to try and stop the calf.

Whoops…

And they are back up…though the calf doesn’t seem to know he’s been caught…

The Cowboy gave it his best but that calf drug him all the way across the arena until the time ran out. You better believe the crowd was up and cheering for that Cowboy, he never gave up.

In Calf Roping the Cowboy and calf head out of the chute and the Cowboy has to rope the calf, then hop off his horse and tie it’s legs. After tying the legs the calf has to stay caught for 6 seconds, or it doesn’t count. It’s an amazing combination of skills for both the Cowboy and the horse. Here they are headed down the arena.

Now the calf is caught…

And the Cowboy hops of his horse and gets the calf tied. See how the horse is keeping the rope tight? Without the Cowboy doing a thing the horse will move so that the rope always stays tight.

The Calf is tied up, and the crowd waits to see if it holds, and to find out the final score.

I also can’t forget to mention the amazing night shows that Cheyenne Frontier Days schedules. They’ve had all the country greats from George Strait to Garth Brooks, and quite a few other types of bands as well! The Cowboy and I left the Cowkids with their CowGranny and had a night out on the town. We went to a Gary Allan concert which was AMAZING! Not only did it bring back some fond memories (we met 13 years ago at the beer tent after a Gary Allan concert) but as always he put on a stellar show. His voice is amazing and his songs are all so wonderfully written that you can’t help but get caught up in his stories.

Afterwards we went to the beer tent for some dancing, my favorite part! I’ll leave you with a video of Chancey Williams and The Younger Brothers Band, a Wyoming band that is sure to get your toe tapping. We heard them in the beer tent Friday night where they did a KILLER cover of one of my favorite songs “Pumped Up Kicks” and then again Saturday night when they opened for Gary Allan. TallGirlJ told me yesterday she used to party with him in college…how cool is that?! Take some time to look at the Cheyenne Frontier Days site and plan a trip out this way, you’ve still got another week and I know you won’t be sorry!