Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne Frontier Days will be here before we know it, with the festivities kicking off in just about six weeks.
"It's a feather in our cap, it's beautiful over there, what they've done to build that thing up. I think people are going to be amazed, I am every time I go over there," said Tom Hirsig, CEO of Cheyenne Frontier Days (CFD).
He said he's excited to see the progress made with the new Morning Star Indian Village and Chute 9, adding that Chute 9 will offer some of the best views in the arena.
"It's like taking the West Side stands, which are in the shade, and the East Side stands, which are right behind the buckin' shoots, kind of a combination of those two seats, the best of both of those," said Hirsig.
In addition to the new construction, this year, CFD will participate as part of the America 250 celebration.
"It's quite an honor to be nationally recognized. Cheyenne Frontier Days, being the Day of the West, is really going to be a big day for us. It'll be historic," said Hirsig.
Through a formal order issued by the Secretary of the Interior, July 23, 2026, is designated as the Day of the American West.
The order specifically recognizes Cheyenne Frontier Days for its longstanding role in celebrating and preserving Western heritage and traditions.
“At Cheyenne Frontier Days, cowboys and Indians are not opposing legends, but complimentary traditions. One represents the working spirit of the frontier; the other, the cultural and spiritual lifeways of the first peoples of the Plains,” it reads.
The secretary of the Interior, secretary of Agriculture, secretary of the Air Force and numerous department heads from Interior and Agriculture will be in attendance.
"You know it's like the 4th of July multiplied by 250," said Hirsig.
CFD runs from July 17 through 26. This year’s event is called Year of the American Indian.
