We got up to Cheyenne later in the afternoon on Friday with the intention of making it into the fair that night. But everyone else had gotten in earlier and they weren’t planning to stay much longer after we got in. So we decided to just make a full day of it on Saturday.
We met up with my family and Luke’s parents in town at this pub-type spot. It was actually fairly large to be fair. They had some cheap beer and a game room downstairs. That kept us busy while we were waiting for our table.
The next day Amanda and I got into the park fairly early – about 9 AM or so. We walked around and chatted with some of the men competing in the camp cooking competition. It was pretty cool to see. Every group had their own wagon and camp set up and everything they cooked had to be on the campfire. We even got a bit of free coffee.
After that, we went over and enjoyed some Native American dancing. It was really amazing to see. All of the singers and dancers had come to perform from Native American reservations in Wyoming and the Dakotas. The singers were probably my favorite part. They have some strong pipes man to sing like they do every day.
The dancers were great too. The traditional men’s dancing was more energetic and they covered way more ground. The women danced as well but their dances were more conservative in nature.
I think it’s really great that they put these types of performances on at the festival every year. Some people might think that it’s more of a negative thing. I mean you have a group of native people performing for a crowd that is for the most part white.
But the audience respects the traditions of the native people and it is a way to keep the culture alive. It gives the younger generation confidence that what they are learning is worthwhile and is respected not only within their own community but outside of it as well.
We met up with everyone around lunchtime and we made our way into the rodeo. It was my first rodeo ever and it certainly did not disappoint.
There were a handful of events and the entire thing lasted about three hours. The first event was bronco riding. Most of the riders stay on for the allotted eight seconds and they are each given a score based on their technique. It’s kind of like gymnastics in a way.
They had several events involving steers, which are young male cows. You had the roping events and you had the steer wrestling. I didn’t enjoy these ones as much because the animals seemed to be at risk of getting injured. Especially the wrestling. The men would twist the steer’s neck in order to tackle it to the ground. It was quite gruesome.
The last few events were the most exciting. You had the barrel racing which is a women-only event. That was exciting because the difference between qualifying for the finals and dropping out was only a few tenths of a second.
Then there was the bull riding. The most famous. Most of the men couldn’t stay on the bull for the full eight seconds. But this one man did an amazing job staying on when it seemed like he was going to get thrown off from the get-go. He got a great score.
The last event was the wild horse race which was by far the most gruesome. Not for the animals but for the people. They bring in a bunch of unbroken horses and teams of three men have to control the horse, saddle it, and then one of them has to ride it around the track.
The horses weren’t pleased to be there, to say the least. Men were being dragged across the ground, kicked, and charged at. I mean have to give these people credit. They were determined to get on these horses. But I think out of the fifteen or so teams that competed only three or four actually made it around and back.