Cody Celebrates Fourth Of July With Five Days Of Rodeos, Parades And Celebrities

For many Americans, the Fourth of July is a single day of celebration and partying: a morning parade and afternoon barbecue capped off by the evening fireworks display on July 4.

In Cody, the Fourth of July is the climactic end to five days of Independence Day parties surrounding the Cody Stampede Rodeo and Parade. 

Instead of one parade, Cody hosts three days of parades celebrating five days of live rodeo right outside the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park.

“Cody knows how to celebrate Independence Day,” said Mack Frost, member of the Cody Stampede Parade Committee. “We wowed the hell out of the folks from Pasadena, California, who do the Rose Bowl parade. They couldn't believe that we were doing what we did.”

Inspired By A Surprising No-Show

Cody, Wyoming, was named after William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, but “the world’s greatest showman” never took to the Cody streets to celebrate Independence Day.

“Buffalo Bill Cody was never in a July Fourth parade in Cody that could be found,” said Robyn Cutter with the Park County Archives.

Nevertheless, people in Cody seem to have been inspired by their charismatic founder and Wild West showman. Cutter said the town’s first Independence Day celebration was in 1898.

“They celebrated the signing of the Declaration of Independence with a street parade comprising all the prominent people of Cody,” she said. “There were 18 people in this wonderful parade, which took place in the afternoon.”

At the turn of the century, Cody celebrated in classic American fashion — horse races, foot races, baseball games and grand balls followed by fireworks. Then in 1907, the committee came together to set a new partying precedent.  

“There were 100 Cody citizens on the committee planning events,” Cutter said.

Those events included a “grand balloon ascension” and a Wild West show inspired by “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West,” which was still on tour then. In addition to races and bucking contests, the committee organized a reenactment of the Battle of Little Bighorn, an attack on the Deadwood stagecoach and “the capture of the bride.”

The “Cody tribe” of American Indians had 50 members involved in the reenactments, along with local cowboys and members of the Wyoming state militia.

“We are assured that not even Col. Cody’s world-renowned Wild West show can surpass the picturesqueness and realism that will characterize this feature of Cody’s great 4th of July celebration,” read a statement published at the time.

The Fourth of July festivities were followed by the Wyoming State Challenge Shootout on July 5 and 6, along with other Western-oriented races and competitions.

A Rough Route

By 1910, Cody’s Independence Day brouhaha included a 40-float parade featuring horses, automobiles and various groups of soldiers, cowboys and residents of the Crow Indian Reservation. There was also a 20-round boxing contest and a fireworks display that cost an astonishing $500.

That eventful celebration was followed by nothing in 1911. 

Cutter said the parade committee “started planning too late” and couldn’t find enough balloons and baseball teams for a proper celebration. Their compromise was a July 4 performance of “The Gilded Youth,” a stage play performed by five locals.

Must’ve been riveting.

Recognizing that 1911’s celebration was terrible, the members of the Cody Parade Committee upped the ante by planning an actual parade and offering everything for free.

“Practically everything planned for entertainment will be provided free this year: entertainment, peanuts and lemonade, meal tickets, free board for your horses, admittance to the various contests will be free, and no entry fee will be charged,” the committee published in The Cody Enterprise.

That also meant people got free tickets to “the comic ball game between the fats and the leans,” exercises by the Boy Scouts, a wild horse race, and a “burlesque band.”

In 1912, the committee decided that one day of celebration was the perfect duration for Cody’s Independence Day celebration. They ignored that decision in 1913 by planning two days of parades, games, and other events as the “Frontier Day’s Celebration.”

If you haven’t been able to tell, Cody hadn’t quite found its footing for Independence Day celebrations. When the parade was unceremoniously cancelled again in 1917, everyone realized they had to get their act together for the future.

Stampede Celebration

In 1919, the Independence Day parades and rodeos were officially rechristened “The Cody Stampede.” It’s been that and so much more ever since.

Cody got into the habit of planning major town events during the Cody Stampede. In 1924, “Buffalo Bill — The Scout,” a $50,000 statue of Buffalo Bill on horseback, was dedicated at the edge of the city limits of Cody as part of the Independence Day celebrations.

The Buffalo Bill Museum was dedicated on July 4, 1927. Cutter noted that “all four doors were dedicated by different parties.”

Then, there was a big blowup in 1938. Cutter said there were so many fireworks accidents that year, the town council passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale or discharge of fireworks in Cody except as part of an organized display under special permit.”

World War II ended in 1945, but Cody couldn’t muster the resources for a proper return to form until 1950. That year, Cutter said the Husky Oil Company ponied up to contribute “the biggest pyrotechnical display in the Bighorn Basin” to complement the parade and rodeo.

By this point, the word was out: Cody always planned a blowout for Independence Day. That’s when the state and the rest of the world started noticing and showing up.

Five Festive Days

Spectators sitting along Sheridan Avenue during the Cody Stampede Parade will see some of Wyoming’s biggest and brightest on one or both days. Typical attendees include the governor, the secretaries of state and education, the entire U.S. congressional delegation, and high school bands from across the Cowboy State.

Frost has been involved with the Cody Stampede Parade for 44 years. For him, the allure is obvious.

“It goes on for five days, essentially, and we promote it that way,” he said. “We usually have between 125 and 150 entries in the parades on July 3 and 4, with lots of horses and floats. And the Cody Stampede is four days, with the addition of Xtreme Bulls on June 30.”

Frost said the Cody Stampede Rodeo had the largest purse of any rodeo in the nation on Independence Day. That’s attracted the rodeo world’s best-of-the-best for over a century.

“All of the ranked cowboys in the nation are going to be at the rodeo one day or another,” he said.

Many of rodeo’s biggest names have appeared in the Cody Stampede Rodeo: Jim Houston, Chris LeDoux, Tom Ferguson, Deb Greenough and Dan Mortensen. And all four nights are competitive, so ticketholders have the potential to see the best performances on any of those nights.

The Cody Stampede Parade is held July 3 and 4, with an extra “Kiddie Parade” on Wednesday. Frost said it was added to the Fourth of July festivities to improve the entire experience.

“When young kids walk in the parade, they tend to slow things down,” he said. “We made the rule that kids had to be riding on the float, but the feedback from the public was that kids really like to be able to walk. So, we decided if they wanted to walk down the parade route, we’d do a parade just for them.”

Frost also believes one of the strengths of the parades are the narration stations. Instead of relying on one narrator or a radio broadcast, the parade has nine stations throughout the route so everyone can hear and appreciate what's going on. 

"That has always impressed not only the general public but also some of the officials from other parades who have come to view how our operation goes along," he said. "Everybody can hear the narration about what the floats, events, and entries are." 

Grander And Grander Marshals

The grand marshal is the most prominent person in any parade. Over the years, Cody has drawn in some big names that have drawn in even more spectators.

In 1976, America’s bicentennial, the grand marshal was none other than “The Duke” himself, John Wayne. He rolled down Sheridan Avenue and then doubled back to cut the ribbon for the Cody Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Of all the places where Wayne could have celebrated 200 years of America, he chose to be in Cody for the occasion. A large replica rifle built for the 1976 Cody Stampede Parade still stands atop one of the buildings in Cody’s downtown.

Larry the Cable Guy got ’er done as the grand marshal of the 2024 parade, but Frost’s favorite grand marshal memory was in 2022, when they sent in Rip Wheeler of the hit show “Yellowstone” to do the job.  

“Cole Hauser was going to be in Cody anyway, so we arranged for him and his family to stay a little longer and be in the parade,” he said. “He would climb off the float to meet with fans and little old ladies sitting by the side of the street. Seeing how he handled the crowd and the warm support he got from the Cody community was a real thrill.”

Next Year’s Nightmare

While many Americans are looking forward to the extended weekend, the Fourth of July festivities were already underway in Cody on Monday. 

The grandstands at the Cody Rodeo Grounds were almost sold out for Xtreme Bulls, while tickets for the Wednesday and Thursday Cody Stampede Rodeos were already sold out weeks ago.

Frost said there are more than 100 entries for the parades on Thursday and Friday, and Cody is already bracing for the influx of people coming to take in the parades, the rodeo, and the fireworks finale on the night of July 4. What Frost and the other members of the Cody Stampede Parade Committee are bracing for is next year’s parade.

“We’re already in the planning phases for 2026, as that will be the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” he said. “I imagine next year is going to be a nightmare. But we’re trying to line up a celebrity grand marshal and a few other things, but it’ll be a good time.”

The parade has changed throughout the last century, which has earned the grumbling of some locals. 

Patrons and parade participants are no longer allowed to throw candy and water balloons, but Frost said it was either that or jeopardize the hard-to-find but mandatory insurance needed to ensure there can be a parade at all. 

Despite a few dustups over the years, nothing can remove the spirit of the Cody Stampede Parade. That’s what keeps Frost and so many others coming back to Cody during the week of Independence Day.

“It's a great way to spend the Fourth of July, there's no doubt about it,” Frost said. “We're just a magnet for the tourists. If you're here in Cody, it's just a short hop up the highway to Yellowstone National Park. If you plan your vacation properly, you can have one heck of a good time in Cody and northwest Wyoming in general.”

Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.