The year 2001 marks the exciting addition of many new attractions on the fairgrounds and on the rodeo agenda, besides all the excitement as usual in Cheyenne. As usual, the music fan will find concerts from top name performers, such as Chris LeDoux, Clay Walker, Toby Keith, LeeAnn Womack, Lonestar, and Brooks & Dunn, to satisfy their need for toe-tapping, swinging country.
Other reasons to attend CFD are the Western Parades featuring antique carriages, three free pancake breakfasts serving 10,000 hungry visitors, the Native American Indian Village, Western Art Show and Sale, the authentic Chuck Wagon cook-off, and the United States Air Force Thunderbirds aerial performance. Those are business at usual for CFD and its more than 2,500 volunteers.
CFD is a must-attend event for anyone that loves rodeo. You’ll see more cowboys here and more things to do than most rodeos throughout the nation.
A couple of years ago, CFD added an attraction that many visitors overlook. Behind the Chutes Tours are available FREE to the public. Premiering in 1998, only a handful of interested visitors actually showed up. Once the word spread though, thousands of visitors have followed the tour guides through the mazes of corrals and 1,700 animals to stand in the cowboy pen and chutes that legends have inhabited, ending their tour by walking across the arena. The tours run throughout the week and weekend.
Arrowhead Dancehall offers live country music daily and plenty of room for dancing. Beer and soft drinks are available, and the tent is located near the ever-popular carnival area. Shows are afternoons after the rodeo, and then 9 to midnight, and this event is packed tighter than sardines and the place to be for nighttime fun.
This year brought a new addition to the rodeo fairgrounds. What was the Old West really like? What was the Wild West really like? “Wild Horse Gulch” is located between the Indian Village and the Old West Museum and is an old west town featuring western characters, demonstrations and craftspeople. Here’s your opportunity to learn about daily life and work in 19th century Cheyenne.
The biggest draws of all still are the nine dusty days of PRCA rodeos. Top name cowboys travel from all across the country, Canada and Australia to compete the largest purse in the professional rodeo circuit of over $750,000.
