Celebrate Western heritage and Ram pride at the National Western Stock Show

It’s time to dust your boots off and get ready for the Western extravaganza of the year. Colorado State University has a long and storied connection to the National Western Stock Show – beginning with 600 students arriving with their livestock at the first Stock Show in 1906.

This year marks the 16-day event’s 110th anniversary and is especially significant given the recent passage of Denver Tourism Ballot Measure 2C, which funds the National Western Center Redevelopment Project. CSU, as one of the primary NWC partners, has envisioned a significant presence at the complex focused on addressing global challenges related to food, water, health, energy, and the environment, while improving agricultural literacy and engaging students of all ages in STEM subjects and the arts.

The Stock Show runs Jan. 9-24, 2016, at the Denver Coliseum, 4600 Humboldt St., Denver. It will kick off with the traditional parade down 17th Street in Denver today.

Tickets purchased through a special CSU offer include $4 off the ticket price when you attend the 11 a.m. Rodeo on CSU Day Saturday, Jan. 16. Additionally, receive a $2 discount for tickets purchased on other dates. Tickets must be purchased online through the National Western Stock Show link, http://col.st/H9xwa, or by phone at 303-295-2979. Enter promo code NWSSCSU for the discount. Discounts are not available at the Stock Show Box Office.

CSU Day at the Stock Show Jan. 16

CSU Day at the Stock Show is a celebration of Western heritage and Ram pride. The event features future Rams in the mutton bustin’ competition, which is sponsored by the CSU Alumni Association, and CSU leadership riding the stagecoach in the Pro Rodeo. Visit the CSU booth in the Hall of Education for great giveaways and watch for CAM the Ram. The discounted tickets for alumni and Ram fans make it easy to celebrate this annual tradition. Just visit the stock show’s website and enter promo code NWSSCSU. The discounted rodeo tickets are $16-22 and include entry to the Stock Show grounds.

While at the Stock Show, plan to stop by the CSU exhibit booths on the second and third floors of the Hall of Education for information on academic programs and athletics, CSU giveaways and more. The booths will be staffed during the entire 16-day run of the Stock Show. Among the exhibitors: 4-H; Admissions; College of Agricultural Sciences; Alumni Association; College of Business; Colorado State Forest Service; CSU Extension; College of Liberal Arts; RamTrax Visitor Services; CSU’s Seedstock Merchandising Team; College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; and, CSU’s Vice President for Research.

Ag Adventure

CSU’s Ag Adventure, located next to the CSU booth, is an interactive exhibit created in conjunction with several Colorado commodity groups that teaches children about where their food comes from. The exhibit includes information from the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Colorado Farm Bureau and commodity groups such as beef, dairy, eggs, potatoes, corn, wheat and honey producers.

Guided tours are offered by 4-H agents from Adams, Jefferson, Broomfield, Denver, Arapahoe, Douglas and Boulder counties to about 20,000 school-aged children from the Denver metro area during the weekdays and other busy times, but self-guided tours are also available during off-hours. In all, more than 70,000 people visited Ag Adventure last year.

Friday, Jan. 15 has been designated as 4-H Day at the NWSS. Each year on 4-H Day the 15 member State 4-H Officer team attends the stock show and rodeo. From 9 a.m. until the afternoon rodeo performance, State Officers and State 4-H staff are available at the CSU booth to answer questions about 4-H and hand out free giveaways, including clover tattoos.

Seedstock Merchandising Team

The CSU Seedstock Merchandising Team, a select group of eight undergraduate students, will be competing at the National Western Stock Show with four pens of cattle. The students selected these cattle from the 2015-born calf crop produced at CSU’s Agricultural Research, Development, and Education Center in Fort Collins. Since selecting them this fall, the team has been developing and preparing these cattle for the upcoming show. The team will have cattle at the Stock Show Jan. 9-17 (Jan. 16 is CSU day at the Stock Show). During that time, students will host a CSU booth in “the yards.” The team will host a free lunch in the CSU yard pens on Thursday, Jan. 14, at noon and will show their cattle on Friday, Jan. 15 (two pens of Hereford cattle) and Saturday, Jan. 16 (two pens of Angus cattle) beginning at 8 a.m.

Colorado State University is one of five partners — including the City and County of Denver, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, History Colorado, and the National Western Stock Show — that have come together to create a shared vision for the future of the National Western Stock Show Complex site as part of the Mayor’s North Cornerstone Collaborative Initiative.

CSU’s footprint in the site will be part of what is now the Hall of Education, and the institution has proposed an equine sports medicine and community outreach clinic, a food systems learning center, a water resources center, collaborative arts programming, a business incubation and industry partnership center, and Denver Urban Extension programs, as part of the new National Western Center. The university aims to be an educational hub for the collaboration, and will present opportunities for hands-on learning.

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