Cheyenne Frontier Days a virus victim
For first time in its 124-year history the Wyoming event has been canceled
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Cheyenne Frontier Days, billed as the world’s largest outdoor rodeo, has been canceled for the first time in its 124-year history due to the coronavirus, city and state officials announced Wednesday.
Event organizers decided the risk of spreading the virus was too great for the more than 140,000 people who visit the city for Frontier Days over the last two weeks in July, Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr said.
“What this pandemic means is we just can’t come together,” Orr said. “We really have to stay apart so we can come together again sooner rather than later. It’s clear that we just aren’t going to be ready for this.”
Frontier Days carried on through both world wars and the Great Depression, when tough finances prompted it to become a mostly volunteer-run event.
To this day, a small army of local volunteers runs the Western heritage festival of rodeo, music concerts, carnival rides, parades and downtown pancake breakfasts.
Bars all over Cheyenne are typically standing-room-only as people try line dancing and riding mechanical bulls.
The rodeo is also a big draw for top rodeo athletes. A Frontier Days belt buckle is among the sport’s most coveted prizes, and the event’s payouts of more $1 million are lucrative in the rodeo circuit.
“We worked hard as a group, brainstorming and trying to come up with solutions,” Frontier Days President and CEO Tom Hirsig said in a news conference with Gov. Mark Gordon. “One of the worst things we could do would be to cause our state to go backward in the recovery process.”
Choking up as he reminisced about his own involvement in rodeo as a youth, Gordon announced he would ease up on public health orders to allow outdoor gatherings of up to 250 people but no more.
“This coronavirus thing sucks. There are just no two ways about it,” Gordon said. “Some think it’s no big deal. Others are worried sick. The fact is, we need both groups to attend our rodeos, and feel safe, if these rodeos are to be successful.”