Here in Ohio, there have been many big events called off, including the Ohio State Fair; the Woollybear Festival; and the Milan Melon Festival. And in other parts of the country, big once-a-year celebrations vital to their home city’s economic fortunes have also been voluntarily called off due to safety concerns.
One big cancellation that hit the newswire was particularly sad. The city of Cheyenne, Wyoming announced that it would not be holding its annual Frontier Days celebration. It’s the first time the 10-day western event – which includes the world’s largest outdoor rodeo – has ever been canceled since it all began back in 1897. (Here’s the story.)
So why am I disappointed? Because my family loved the West, and our visit to Cheyenne Frontier Days was one of the highlights of my family’s annual camping vacation back in 1970. Since this is the week during which the 2020 edition was supposed to take place, I’m sure there are a lot of unhappy people.
But you, lucky reader, can experience some of the frontier fun without leaving your Coronavirus quarantine. Stop back here tomorrow, as the blog saddles up and heads West for Cheyenne Frontier Days circa 1970. I’ll even throw in some Then & Nows.
In the meantime, here’s a brochure and a few postcards from our 1970 visit.
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| Frontier Park, where the rodeo is held |
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The blog has gone Out West before. Back here, I featured my family’s 1965 trip to South Dakota.
Moving from Lorain to Denver in 1968, our family frequented Frontier Days in Cheyenne, just 100 miles north, often and I’ve kept that tradition going over the last 52 years. Such a good time - “The Granddaddy of them All”. It certainly will be missed this year.
ReplyDeleteI was on a trip out west back in 1994 and just happened to be going through Cheyenne and the festival was going on.We were on our way to our destination or we would've stopped...But it looked like it was fun....Just like the real west should be with cowboys and the sunny blue skies with beautiful mountains in the background...Just breathtaking to see......Then you come back "east" and see all of the depressing derelict buildings and rundown slumlord rented houses.Makes you want to move out there permanently.
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