Cheyenne Frontier Days, an iconic rodeo event in Wyoming, has been canceled for the first time in its 124-year history.
Frontier Days President and CEO Tom Hirsig and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon made the announcement during a news conference on Wednesday. Organizers of Frontier Days, billed as the “world’s largest outdoor rodeo and western celebration,” said that the concern of spreading COVID-19 outweighed the tradition of the festival.
“What this pandemic means is we just can’t come together,” Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr told the Associated Press. “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.”
The event is largely run by volunteers and typically sees more than 140,000 visitors, infusing upwards of $28 million into the local economy. Despite the importance of the event to Cheyenne and to the state, Hirsig said organizers didn’t want to endanger Wyoming, which has had at least 860 cases of COVID-19 and 14 deaths.
“We worked hard as a group, brainstorming and trying to come up with solutions,” Hirsig said during the news conference with Gordon. “One of the worst things we could do would be to cause our state to go backward in the recovery process.”
Gordon added that “this coronavirus thing sucks. There are just no two ways about it.”
“Some think it’s no big deal. Others are worried sick,” the Republican governor continued. “The fact is, we need both groups to attend our rodeos and feel safe if these rodeos are to be successful.”
