THE PLACE TO BUY A NEW HAT OR GET A STYLE UPDATE
Cowgirls, buckaroos have heyday at opening of National Western
Rick Bishop of Western Traditions in Cheyenne knows hats. He can separate the real cowboy from the city slicker with just a look. His booth was one of many that greeted visitors on the opening day of the 112th National Western Stock Show & Rodeo.
Plaid buttondowns tucked into white stitched boot-cut denim, big silver belt buckles and worn-in boots — the traditional cowboy look was represented well on opening day of the 112th National Western Stock Show & Rodeo on Saturday.
But what could be more important to a cowboy or cowgirl than their belt buckles and boots? Their hats, of course.
A long rectangular booth located in the education hall of the National Western Complex displayed a wall of hats. Tan, beige, black and white all hung behind a workbench that housed a steaming machine, wooden molds, brushes and sponges. All the materials needed to maintain and care for the all-important cowboy hat.
Rick Bishop of Western Traditions in Cheyenne has been keeping it authentic for the past 43 years, and has attended the stock show for 38 of them. He’s such a connoisseur of hats that with just a glance he can determine a real cowboy from an imposter.
“Quality’s a pretty good giveaway,” he said. “The way they wear their hat, how it’s taken care of.”
Quality is rated on an X scale — the more Xs the higher the quality and the bigger the price tag. It’s determined mostly by how much beaver fur is used in the hat, increasing its longevity and resistance to rain. And the price tag is nothing to sneeze at, reaching upward of $600 and deemed 100X. Lower quality hats sell in the $200 range and are closer to 6-8X.
Bishop said there’s hundreds of different hat shapes that go in and out of style, and almost any hat can be reshaped with just five minutes of steaming, pressing and molding. Older hats are the exception, he’s turned some away due to oil and sweat affecting the sharpness of the creases.
Like anything else in life, keeping up with trends is important. Right now, wide square front brims and taller crowns are in for young adults, while the older folks prefer the cattleman look.
Phil Haus, who wears a cowboy hat every day, stopped by Western Traditions on Saturday to purchase a new hat and had it reshaped from a cattleman top to a square top.
He compared it to the old stereotype of some women with their shoes — you can never have enough. But they’re an investment and they need to be taken care of properly.
He said his old hat had become too dirty to wear in public.
“You gotta have a dress-up hat, you know?” Haus asked rhetorically.
The 16-day hootenanny has become a tradition for many families, but it also brings in newcomers. Attendance increases almost every year. In 2015, almost 700,000 people stopped by for a taste of the Old West. This year’s show ends Jan. 21.
The annual western hoedown hosts more than 300 vendors showcasing a little bit of everything, from fashion accessories to household items, to taxidermy and farm equipment — there’s something for everybody at the stock show, and even if you identify as a city dweller, Bishop has one simple message:
“Everybody’s got a little cowboy in them,” he said.