Free Republic

I'm up with relatives in the Walla Walla, WA. area and ventured over to the Walla Walla Fair and Frontier Days Parade. I've been to it before and it seemed bigger than usual this year. As the entries went by one by one, it all lead up to the grand finale' which resulted in the ultimate in patriotism. First, a group of Tea Party Patriots marched by and they received a warm response from the spectators along the parade route. Following the Patriots was the first half of the motorcycle club called the Combat Veterans of America. They too received...

Sixteen inducted to CFD Hall of Fame The group included volunteers and contestants who changed the 'Daddy of 'em All' By Michelle Dynes rep2@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Jim Tescher first got into rodeo at the age of 16. During his career, he won the Cheyenne Frontier Days Saddle Bronc Riding Championship in 1957 and 1965. He also won the All-Around Championship in 1957 and 1966. Tescher was just one of the 16 members of the class of 2005 inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame at the CFD Old West Museum on Friday. His...

Finding a wrangler's heaven By Michelle Dynes rep2@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Cowboy Church opened with a foot-stomping, hand-clapping rendition of "Amazing Grace" at Frontier Park on Sunday morning. "How many (people) applaud at church," asked Marty LaVor of Alexandria, Va. The six-time Cheyenne Frontier Days visitor said he didn't know why he hadn't attended Cowboy Church before. "It's the atmosphere," he said. "It's Frontier Days right at the arena. But it's much more personal than what you get in a normal church." LaVor said the experience allowed him to see the friendliness of the West up...

Branquinho brothers cheer each other By Dave Shelles spt4@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - It's not a situation where the Branquinho brothers are always within an arm's reach of the other. If Luke Branquinho is wrestling steers in Cheyenne, it's possible his older brother, Casey, is roping calves in Ogden, Utah. Or vice versa. But if either brother experiences success, expect the other to swell with pride, along with numerous other family members and friends back home in Los Alamos, Calif. "Any time anything goes well in our family, we have 100 people at home cheering us on,"...

Wisconsin natives stand out By Jeremiah Johnke spt3@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Ask anyone what states they think of when it comes to rodeo, and odds are they'll rattle off a short list that includes Texas, Colorado, Montana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. So it's of very little surprise that many people's reaction when bull riders B.J. Schumacher and Fred Boettcher's home state appears on the scoreboard is often accompanied by an inquisitive tone. Wisconsin? "When I first started going to (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) rodeos 10 years ago, there were all of these cowboys from...

Stories to tell She just doesn't talk - she collects By Jessica Lowell rep5@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Eldrena Douma welcomes you with a smile and an open face. She wants to know you: what your name is, what it means, where you are from and what your stories are. It's an occupational hazard. Douma is a storyteller. Everywhere she goes, she collects stories from others and works on her own to tell. During Cheyenne Frontier Days, Douma - which means Singing as You Go - is telling her stories twice a day in the Indian Village....

Yes, free flapjacks at depot 'You can bet your bippy I'll be there' By Ty Stockton Outdoors@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle The early bird may get the worm, but the early human gets the flapjacks. Today is the first pancake breakfast of the 2004 Cheyenne Frontier Days, and you can bet your bippy I'll be there. Few things motivate me more than food, but free food is certainly one of those things. From 7 to 9 a.m. today, Wednesday and Friday, the Cheyenne Kiwanis club dishes up flapjacks, ham and coffee at an average of 10,000 people each day....

Tip your hat to volunteers By Ty Stockton outdoors@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle P.T. Barnum may lay claim to the "Greatest Show on Earth," but the title of greatest volunteer effort on the planet may well go to Cheyenne Frontier Days. More than 2,000 people donate their time, sweat and occasionally some blood each year to keep the show going. Some put in a little bit of time when they can, while others take their vacation from paying jobs to work at Frontier Park for the days preceding the rodeo and the 10 days of the celebration itself. Bill...

Annual cattle drive goes off without a hitch 650 steers moved through town to unofficially kick off CFD By Cara Eastwood rep4@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Like a scene in an old Western movie, a herd of cattle suddenly poured over the horizon on Sunday morning, in a pasture on the north side of Horse Creek Road. The smell of campfire biscuits and eggs still hung in the air as the steers approached, trotting in the center of a loose circle of cowboys and cowgirls who guided them slowly toward a small opening in the barbed wire...

Family rich with history Marirose Morris married the boy next door - but she had to move to Seattle to do it By Ilene Olson rep3@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Dotted with names like Smoke, Her Many Horses, Lone Wolf, Bear Lays Down, Princess Blue Water and fur trader Joseph Bissonette, Marirose Morris' family tree is not the typical genealogical chart. It is a page seemingly torn from the history of the American frontier. Much of that history, dating back to the early 1800s, centers here in Wyoming, despite the fact that Morris grew up on the...

Cheyenne Frontier Days 2003 Challenge Rodeo By Juliette Rule Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE – “Hooowwdyyy,” the pint-sized crowd yelled from the arena. White cowboy hats tipped forward, and the audience applauded. It’s the Cheyenne Frontier Days Challenge Rodeo, and that welcome is a tradition all its own. The 60 or so special-needs children compete, ride, rope and run with the help of Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association members and others, who ferry kids to each event, snap pictures and offer them water in the noon heat. It’s a modified rodeo with big emotional appeal. “I’ve watched it so many...

Cattle drive kicks off Frontier Days By Juliette Rule Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE – In her pink hat and pink cowgirl boots, 7-year-old Kari Webb fit the part of a Cheyenne Frontier Days spectator to a T. The rising mercury, a grumbling tummy nor the 90-minute wait deterred her excitement at spotting the black-hatted Dandies crest the hill near her perch at Vandehei Avenue. But when the 500 or so corriente steers made their way by, Webb’s eyes grew large, and she hopped around excitedly as she translated the braying. The steers, she said, were saying “Get outta...