The Rodeo and 101 years of Cowboy Roundup Days
Steamboat Springs celebrates over a century of ranching, rodeo heritage with
101st Anniversary of Cowboy Roundup Days

While there aren't as many cowboys walking the streets of Steamboat today, local residents are still proud of their town's ranching and rodeo heritage. Every summer Steamboat celebrates that heritage on the Fourth of July during Cowboy Roundup Days, which is a 101-year-old tradition.

Cowboy Roundup Days became part of Steamboat's Fourth of July celebration in 1903, and one of the main festivities was, and still is, the rodeo.

A Steamboat Pilot article from June 30, 1949, commemorated this tradition with a recap of one of the
earlier Cowboy Roundup Days celebrations:

"The night of July 3, 1924, all Steamboat Springs was a tiptoe with anticipation. On the morrow was to be a great rodeo, staged by Leo Hill Post No. 44 of the American Legion … Fast horses, ornery horses and big purses had attracted the most daring riders of the day. A splendid show was assured and everyone, absolutely everyone, was planning to go."

There wasn't an actual arena in 1924, so the paper reported that a makeshift arena was roped off and "hustlers hoped they could keep the crowds out of danger." Events included a 300-yard pony race, a quarter-mile cow horse race, a buckers horse contest, calf roping and a potato race where riders were given spears to get potatoes from a box at one end of the "arena" to the other side. "No holds were barred, and if one could 'unhorse' another rider's spud from the stick, so much the better," the paper reported.

Today, Cowboy Roundup Days events include all the rodeo favorites, a parade down Lincoln Avenue, a community pancake breakfast, live music and more.

Link to: History of the Cowboys Round Up Days