The National Western Stock Show grounds were a ghost town on a warm Saturday afternoon. But in a little less than a week, the 600,000 square-foot center will become a booming Western metropolis echoing the olden days of cowboys and little houses on expansive prairies. 

The annual Western Stock Show is coming. And the workers are preparing. 

Over 700,000 visitors will bring a $171 million economic impact, according to a study released this week by the Common Sense Institute. 

The quiet is almost over. You can hear the hoofbeats approaching.

Construction workers began getting the vast show grounds ready for the 16 days of events, rodeos, pigs, bulls, horses, ten-gallon hats and food – a 118-year tradition for the Denver metro.

Two men were checking the electrical cables in the stockyard at the show grounds at 4655 Humboldt St. Endless rows of empty stock pens laid ahead of them. By Jan. 6, each pen will be occupied by various livestock from all over the country.

Other workers placed buildings down in the yard, later used for feed storage.

Though the stock show began in 1906, the stockyard itself has been around since 1881. The Denver Union Stock Yard Company was founded that year with aspirations to be a central unit of sale and commerce in the region.

The first official stock show was held under a circus tent in 1906. The tent is gone, but the idea remains. Buyers and sellers from all over the nation entered the yards to sell livestock. 

Daily attendance at the Denver Livestock Exchange slowed in 1950, causing the local industry to focus entirely on the yearly show. The longstanding Denver Coliseum was built in 1951, promising that the show’s success would continue.

The tradition never stopped.

“We’re here to celebrate and preserve our Western heritage, No. 1,” said President and CEO Paul Andrews in an interview with The Denver Gazette. “No. 2, we’re a great place to bring rural and urban America together.”

Officials expect all 50 states and 35 countries to be represented this year. 

Construction in the area doesn’t just stop at preparations for this years events, though. Within the same area, workers are building the National Western Center – 2.2 million square feet of new indoor and outdoor spaces being built by the City and County of Denver in partnership with the National Western Stock Show and Colorado State University.

The spaces are set to include event centers, food markets and CSU buildings – like the already finished CSU Spur Vida building. 

Regardless of the future of the area, Saturday approaches fast. The Western Stock Show is coming in for it’s new season of rodeos, concerts, mutton busting and wild west shows. 

And it’s not going anywhere.