Cheyenne’s Rodeo Week Inspires Huge Shopping Sprees, Millions In Economic Impact

CHEYENNE — Ten local merchants and $4,000 later, Beth and Craig Lemanowicz were relaxing at the Rib and Chop House restaurant with cocktails in hand and a huge bag of Western attire sitting by their side.

The couple is among the more than 150,000 or so individual, unique visitors who will ultimately fill up the Cheyenne Frontier Days Arena and concert venues for 10 days. That adds up to 550,000 overall guests, according to a Cheyenne Frontier Days economic impact study.

The 550,000 total aren’t unique visitors. Some are the same guests attending multiple events.

Collectively, Cheyenne Frontier Days visitors brought $50.4 million in economic impact to Laramie County in 2024, according to the study.

The Lemanowiczes’ $4,000 spending spree included lodging and food, as well as a whirlwind of shopping, Craig told Cowboy State Daily. 

Most of that shopping was done by his wife, he said, though she later confided that he bought new things as well, like a belt buckle and a new wallet. 

“He is totally a shopper, too,” she said. “He acts like it’s all me, but he’s really the ringleader of the circus.”

The couple is from Florida, where Beth feels prices are much higher than those in Wyoming. 

“We have Lily Pulitzer, which everyone loves,” she said. “But it’s so outrageously priced.”

Lily Pulitzer is a clothing line known for colorful designs. Shirts cost more than $100, but this week, Beth found plenty of colorful alternatives at less than half that in Cheyenne shops, as well as from vendors at Cheyenne Frontier Days. 

On Wednesday, she’d picked up cowboy hats in two shades of pink and one that was a shade of royal blue. She was sporting a rhinestone bedazzled jacket she bought at last year’s rodeo but said she’d also bought new jackets, jeans and dresses at prices that felt like a bargain to her.

She was particularly proud of a custom Alexis Drake purse, which had a bucking horse burned into the leather.

“There’s just so many cute, creative things,” she said, holding up the Alexis Drake bag with a big smile. “I think this is like a designer brand, like a Luis Vuitton brand.”

‘You Only Live Once’

Beth said her shopping method is built around one simple idea.

“You only live once,” she said. “You know what? You can’t go anywhere when you’re dead. And we’ve already lost Malcom Jamal Warner, Ozzy Osbourne, and Hulk Hogan.”

The Lemanowicz’s heard about Cheyenne Frontier Days through a friend of a friend who lived in Cheyenne and invited them to come up last year. 

They loved it so much, they came back again and now plan to return every year.

“The people are so nice,” Beth said. “The landscape is amazing. It’s like, not so populated.”

They both love watching the rodeo which they find exciting — a glimpse into a world that’s much different than what they’re used to.

The only downside, Beth added, is Wyoming’s bipolar weather. That had Beth wearing a jacket one minute and sweating the next. 

“I don’t think I would want to live here all year round just because it’s cold,” she said. “But we have a camper, and we were thinking of just getting a lot or something and putting our camper there.”

Cowboy Christmas Isn’t Just For Cowboys

Rodeo season is known as the Cowboy Christmas in the West. It’s a time when cowboys storm the rodeo circuit in multiple states, hoping to take home thousands of dollars in prizes — if they can beat out all the competition.

But it’s not just Christmas for cowboys during Cheyenne Frontier Days. It’s Christmas for a lot of Cheyenne businesses too.

Alexis Garrett, owner of Alexis Drake, told Cowboy State Daily her business during Cheyenne Frontier Days quadruples as compared to a more normal day. 

“Some days, it’s way more than that,” she said. “It’s like a Christmas crammed into 10 days.”

Drake creates a special collection of customizable leather items ranging from belts and purses to wallets, as well as clothing items like scarves, just for Cheyenne Frontier Days. She starts selling that rodeo collection in the beginning of July, mainly to locals. 

As Cheyenne Frontier Days nears, she and her employees work to beef up the collection, with an eye to stocking two stores, instead of the usual one. The second store is a pop-up available at Frontier Park.

During July, her stores will also be open seven days week instead of six days, though she doesn’t extend her hours beyond the usual. The thinking there is not to burn out her existing staff. 

“I do like to reward our employees,” she said. “Let them go out and have some fun. So, for us, we’ve noticed that just consistent hours are helpful for us.”

Garrett wasn’t sure if Cheyenne Frontier Days is busier for her business than Christmas, but said if it’s not busier, then it’s a close second.

New Businesses Especially Benefit

Business after business in downtown Cheyenne had similar stories to tell, but the rush is particularly helpful to brand-new businesses, like Michael Magill’s The Cowboy Emporium at the Plains, which features artwork by 20 or so artisans from photography and paintings to knives and artisan leather goods.

The business is just 10 weeks old. They’ve been working hard to get their name out there, but traffic is still a little light some days.

Before Cheyenne Frontier Days, Magill had days with as few as two or three customers, on up to around 30 or so when a tour bus comes through. 

Since the rodeo started, he’s had more like 100 customers every day. 

“We have noticed it does come in waves,” he said. “So, after the parade we see a definite increase in traffic, and then around the rodeo it gets a little quiet. Then, after the rodeo it picks back up again.”

Magill’s sales have picked up so much, he’s already had to call some of his artisans, to see whether they can restock. 

“It’s been really, really good,” his wife Michelle told Cowboy State Daily. “We have to be really good stewards of this time that we have. That 10 days isn’t a long time to touch all these people and talk to all these people.”

Millions In Economic Impact

Last year’s Cheyenne Frontier Days entertained a total of 115,494 guests at an average rodeo ticket price of $40.20, while the total concert attendance was 122,794 with an average concert ticket price of $141.08, according to a slick brochure the CFD committee puts out to recap the season. There were 17,657 attendees at Frontier Days’ professional bull riding events, with an average ticket price of $107.92. 

The overall $50.4 million economic impact breaks down to $16.4 million spent on recreation and attendance, $11 million on overnight accommodations, $14.3 million on retail purchases including fuel and grocery, $8.8 million on food and beverages, and $2.6 million in state and local taxes.

The event helped create 660 full- and part-time jobs and supported an overall $17.5 million in wages. 

Cheyenne Frontier Days relies solely on revenue from the annual rodeo celebration to maintain its facilities and build new infrastructure.

This year, CFD plans to build a new Chute 9, and has begun construction of the new Morning Star American Indian Village. Both projects are expected to finish in 2026.

The largest project ahead of CFD in the next 20 years will be replacement of the B grandstand, which is expected to cost $40 million. 

There will also be several other projects, including a new exhibition hall, animal care improvements, parking lot improvements, and support for the city of Cheyenne’s project to build a bridge from F.E. Warren Air Force Base to Frontier Park for Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Attendance Not As High?

Attendance at this year’s Cheyenne Frontier Days seems lighter than usual, Cowboy State Daily was told by several businesses, ranging from places like Mary’s Mountain Cookies to restaurant Paris West. 

Bus drivers, as well as fans of the event, also said they believed the crowds look smaller this year.

Devin Miller, head chef at Paris West, said in years past the business has had to be ready for four to five times normal traffic. But this year, the restaurant has only been about 2.5 times busier than usual.

Miller attributes the lighter traffic to the decision to choose a different bull-riding circuit this year. The Professional Rodeo Cowboy Associations Xtreme Bulls tour, which is not televised, came to CFD this year instead of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) televised circuit.

After that decision,  PBR opted to go forward with an event in Fort Collins in the same timeframe. That set up something of a border war for bull riding fans during Cheyenne Frontier Days on July 21 and 22, drawing at least some fans away, Miller believes.

Cheyenne Frontier Days officials told Cowboy State Daily they would not release overall attendance statistics until Sunday. Last year, close to 18,000 fans watched the bull riding events, so it is a sizable slice of the CFD audience. 

The downsized traffic hasn’t made the onslaught of customers feel any less harrowing for Miller and others in the restaurant industry. That’s something Miller starts preparing for long before July arrives. 

That includes a pared down menu, as well as a few new cocktails and dishes specific to rodeo week.

It also involves a little bit of additional training for staff. 

“We’ll print off pictures (of new dishes) to try and make sure the presentation comes out correctly at all times,” Miller said.

The restaurant still tries to make as many things fresh from scratch as possible, to maintain the high level of quality that customers have come to expect.

“Our huddles to communicate exactly what’s going on also increase,” Miller said. “So instead of having it at the beginning and the end of shift, we’ll have one at the beginning, middle and end.”

That helps to highlight anything the restaurant is out of, as well as how many reservations are ahead, and any mistakes that are being made.

Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.