Behind the Chutes tour puts size, scope of CFD into perspective

Jul. 24—CHEYENNE — To see Cheyenne Frontier Days from the ground of the arena is something special.

Frontier Days hosts one of the largest Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeos, and Frontier Park is home to the world's largest outdoor rodeo arena. While the cattle chutes may seem like a mystical place reserved only for the bravest of cowboys, cowgirls and rodeo volunteers, any CFD visitor can get a close-up look of the arena most mornings before the rodeo.

CFD offers Behind the Chutes tours, which are free, at 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. today through Saturday, with the final tour at 10 a.m. July 31. The tours give visitors an overview of Frontier Days history, and tour guides explain many rodeo events.

"We talk about how Cheyenne Frontier Days started, and then we talk about the different areas of the park," said Holly Daniels, a volunteer with the CFD Public Relations Committee. "When we get to the other part of the tour, it's over by where the roughstock is, and the tour guide gives a little bit of a viewing of how the roughstock work and how the cowboy has to ride whatever roughstock he needs to be riding."

The tour begins by the large "No Looking Back" statue just south of the Old West Museum. On Saturday, volunteer and tour guide Fred Drake began the tour by explaining how Frontier Days began as a small, one-day rodeo with few events.

The tour then moves along to the north end of the arena, where the large night show stage is close by, ready to be driven into the arena for the night's concert. Before entering the arena, the tour will stop by the yards where the barrel racing contestants begin their performance, and visitors can imagine what it's like to be up against some of the world's best barrel racers at the rodeo.

Jessica Crowder, one of the tour guides and a volunteer for the PR Committee, on Saturday sat atop Mac, a ranch horse from CFD's stock contractor. She was explaining some of the rules of the rodeo.

Crowder said that at Frontier Days, nearly 1,500 cowboys and cowgirls compete alongside nearly 2,000 "animal athletes" during the nine-day PRCA rodeo. Frontier Days has strict animal welfare policies, Crowder said, and when the animal athletes are not competing, they have plenty of room, food and water in the holding areas.

Bucking horses and bulls, known as roughstock, only compete for 16 seconds during the entirety of Frontier Days — and that's only if the contestant can stay on the animal for the full eight seconds, Crowder said.

Sights, sounds — and smells

Once inside the arena, tour-goers can experience the sights, sounds and smells of the rodeo as they walk along the soft, freshly evened-out arena grounds. Depending on weather throughout each day, the rodeo grounds can easily get muddy if it rains or they can be hard and dry from the hot sun.

Looking up at the grandstands surrounding the arena, the world's largest outdoor rodeo arena comes into perspective.

PR Committee volunteers Jodi Stoke and Tricia Nichols said their favorite part about helping with the Behind the Chutes tours is leading visitors into the arena. Nichols said that when you sit in the stands, the arena looks large. When you're on the ground, it becomes "unbelievably large."

That's the impression visitor Josette Kozisek had as she stood in the arena Saturday.

Selfies

"I'm surprised how humongous it is," said Kozisek, who came here from Atkinson, Nebraska. "It's big and clean, and everybody is very, very friendly and nice. And it's just really neat to think about all of the history here."

Tour participants have a chance to take photos of themselves (aka a selfie) in the cattle chutes in the arena. Visitors can look into the alleyways the arena has that make it easier for the rodeo coordinators and contestants to move about and get everything in the right place.

When exiting the arena, the tour moves past Chute 9, which is where the calves and steers emerge during the rodeo for roping and steer wrestling events. As the tour finishes up, visitors can see the roughstock up close and hear the neighs of the horses as they wait for the rodeo to start.

Some lucky tour-goers may have the opportunity to watch a small cattle drive, too. On the 9:30 a.m. tour on Saturday, visitors lined up against the arena wall and watched as a group of men on horses led the steers, and then the calves, into the stock holding area on the other side of the arena.

Daniels said that doesn't always happen on the tours; it depends on if the rodeo volunteers have the steers and calves ready.

For many volunteers, meeting the different Frontier Days visitors is the best part of giving the tour. Daniels said she once saw a couple get engaged inside the chutes on the tour, and that it's fun to get to know people from all over.

On Saturday, some visitors came all the way from Switzerland and Italy, putting into perspective just how worldwide Frontier Days truly is.

To join a tour, gather by the "No Looking Back" statue by the Old West Museum about five minutes before the tour begins. Each tour might have more than 50 people, so go earlier if you want to avoid the crowds. The tours last between 30 and 45 minutes. Visitors should plan ahead for the weather and take any necessary precautions.

Serena Bettis is a senior journalism major at Colorado State University who is interning this summer at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. She can be reached by email at sbettis@wyomingnews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @serenaroseb.