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NWSS has a proud historyIf the founders of the National Western Stock Show, Rodeo and Horse Show were to attend today's events, they'd likely pop a few buttons with pride. The first show opened on Jan. 29, 1906, for a six-day run that attracted 336 entries. The mid-winter date sandwiched between the busier fall and spring seasons appealed to farm and ranch folks, while for the show's Denver boosters, the livestock hoorah was just the fix for those post-Christmas blahs. The first three shows were held under canvas. A "big top" borrowed from a circus that wintered in Denver was erected in the stockyards and grandstands; arc lights and a big coke-fired heater were installed. The Denver Union Stock Yards Co. ran a bustling year-round operation, but they made room in their pens for the Stock Show, and pen and carload cattle shows quickly became highlights of the January event. Cattle included just four breeds-Angus, Hereford, Shorthorn and Galloway. The first three would monopolize the show for six decades. In its infancy, the show was open only to entries from west of the 99th meridian, but in 1910 Stock Show brass swung the gates open to all comers and it truly became the National Western. Changes through the years The yards were the heart of the show until the meatpacking industry began to decentralize in the 1960s. By the mid-1970s, the sprawling complex was virtually deserted. To preserve a venue for its trademark pen and carload shows, the National Western began purchasing the fence-studded acres, and now the yards come alive each January with cattle judging and auctions. These days, the hill is the cattle show's center of gravity. In 1966, Charolais, one of the Continental breeds, busted the Angus-Hereford-Shorthorn monopoly to pave the way for other bovine breeds, 20 of which now show here. The barns roar with the sound of fans, blowers and whirring clippers as exhibitors prepare their show strings for fierce competition. The Stock Show was born at the dawn of the automobile age, but mules and draft horses were still providing muscle power for farms, ranches and cities and they were shown here until 1931 and 1941, respectively. A halter-and-pleasure-class horse show was added in 1907, and Society Night, a see-and-be-seen affair, was a highlight for decades, helping to make horse shows a National Western mainstay. Breed-specific shows began with Palominos in 1938 and the long-running Quarter Horse Show came aboard in 1944. The 103rd Stock Show will feature Quarter Horses, Paints, hunters and jumpers, draft horses and mules. Rodeo joined the National Western in 1931, when about 100 cowboys competed in saddle and bareback bronc riding, calf roping, steer wrestling and bull riding, risking their necks for as little as $35. Entries grew during the Depression and, in 1939, the rodeo joined a five-city western circuit. By 1955, 350 cowboys were starting their annual prize-money quest at the National Western and, in 2010, more than 700 cowboys and cowgirls will make the pilgrimage to the Mile High City to compete in those original five events, plus team roping and barrel racing. From 1931 to 1951, rodeos and horse shows shared performances in the Stadium Arena as the entertainment whipsawed between wild and woolly rodeo events and sedate horse show classes. The union worked, and tickets to the horse show-rodeo combo were notoriously hard to come by. That problem was solved when Denver taxpayers, area businesses, Stock Show boosters and livestock interests teamed up to build the Denver Coliseum, which hosted its first National Western in 1952. The rodeos and horse shows moved into their new home and cattle shows took over the Stadium Arena. The Events Center opened in 1995 to usher in today's arrangement: horse shows in the Events Center, rodeo in the Coliseum and livestock shows in the Stadium Arena. Back in 1906, students from the Colorado Agricultural and Mining College in Fort Collins, Colo., now Colorado State University, brought a string of show cattle, hogs and lambs to Denver and cleaned up in the judging. For their domination, they were barred from competition the next year. They came anyway, as did students from Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois, as college and university exhibitors became regulars. Benefitting young people In 1919, the National Western created its first youth divisions. Entries swelled during the Depression as 4-H boys and girls clubs began showing steers, lambs and hogs in increasing numbers. The popular 4-H Catch-A-Calf contest was added in 1935, and it was a boys-only affair until 1974 when girls joined the fray. Today, hundreds of youngsters from 9 to 19 enter lambs, goats, hogs and steers in the junior livestock show. The show reaches its dramatic climax at the Auction of Junior Livestock Champions, a televised auction where bidding for grand and reserve champions soars into the stratosphere. Contestants take home 75 percent of the proceeds from their critters, and a champion animal can pay for a college education. The remainder goes to the National Western Scholarship Trust, along with money from the Citizen of the West Award dinner, the Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale, the Boots and Business luncheon and individual memorials and contributions to fund scholarships for agriculture and medical students bound for rural practice. Launched in 1983 with three $1,000 scholarships, the program has grown to 71 scholarships totaling over $300,000 annually. The colorful variety of animals exhibited at the Stock Show today might raise an eyebrow among its founders. Lambs, hogs and poultry, they would expect, but llamas and yaks? As the National Western's reputation has grown, exhibitors eager to get their species in the spotlight have come clamoring. Bison, alpacas and Angora rabbits have all found places at the show for judging, genetic improvement and unrivaled media coverage. New facilities have been key to the National Western's growth. In 1909 the show moved indoors to the newly constructed National Amphitheater. Forty-three years passed before the Coliseum was built, followed by another 21 years without major additions. Three big building projects, the Hall of Education (1973), Expo Hall (1991), and Events Center (1995), brought the National Western Complex to its current size. The Expo Hall and Hall of Education house children's exhibits, the Coors Western Art Gallery and the trade show, which features 360 commercial exhibitors who offer a dazzling array of goods ranging from ranch equipment to kitchen gadgets. The Events Center hosts seven multi-day equine events during the January extravaganza. There are plenty of reasons for celebration as the National Western rounds out its first century. During its 16-day run, more than 600,000 folks will attend and 12,000-plus critters--from bunnies to bison and Leghorns to Longhorns--will face the scrutiny of judges. The show will offer more than 40 ticketed rodeos, horse shows and other entertainments. More than 40,000 people will admire fine art at the Coors Western Art Exhibit and Sale and 20,000 wide-eyed school kids will come on field trips. All of which would amaze and gratify those visionaries who launched the affair a century ago.
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