Cows and cowboy boots were a big draw this year with the National Western Stock Show reigning in the second-highest attendance numbers in the event's 112-year history.
The 16-day event in north Denver reined in 705,574 people in 2018, a 3 percent increase from last year. The show and its hundreds of thousands of attendees create a more than $100 million economic impact on Denver, according to the Western Stock Show’s 2017 annual report.
“We appreciate every person, young and old, from near and far that came out to make memories with us”, said Paul Andrews, president and CEO of the National Western Stock Show, in a statement. “To host over 700,000 guests in 16 days is tremendous, not to mention historic.”
The largest stock show attendance was 726,972 guests during the 100th anniversary in 2006.
The National Western Scholarship Trust also had a good year. It's three primary funding sources — The Junior Livestock Auction, The Citizen of the West dinner and The Coors Western Art exhibit — bringing in enough revenue to fund a projected 100 scholarships for Colorado and Wyoming students studying agriculture and rural medicine.
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Business & data reporter Adrian D. Garcia can be reached via email at [email protected] or twitter.com/adriandgarcia.
