Rodeo Week In Casper Means Mustaches, Mullets And Visitors Buying Up Western Wear

CASPER — For one week each June, thousands of competitors, families, vendors and spectators pour into Casper for the College National Finals Rodeo. Hotels fill. Restaurants buzz.

Parking lots become crowded with flatbeds carrying license plates from around the country, and from across the border in Alberta, Canada.

Along with immersing themselves into rodeo, Wyoming and the West, they share another passion — looking the part.

Across the city, Western wear flies off shelves as people weave through rows of vendors buying boots, hats, turquoise jewelry and enough fringe to stir questions about America's suede supply.

A mechanical bull at the Wyoming Sports Ranch expo spins in the middle of the ring, bucking a little girl with a sparkly cowgirl hat covering her eyes.

Moms stand nearby making a fashion statement in cheetah-print and cowhide, holding shopping bags overflowing with Western merchandise.

Teenagers drift past in pressed, cuffed Wranglers and striped pearl snaps. Musky cologne fills the air as the reflection off huge, polished belt buckles can be blinding at just the right angle.

The rodeo itself unfolds across the street at the Ford Wyoming Center, where college athletes spend the week chasing national titles, prize money and belt buckles.

Boots And Hats

Downtown, every floor of the legendary Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters is packed.

People stand shoulder-to-shoulder beneath towering walls of boots with the smell of leather hanging thick in the air.

Felt hats move through the aisles like migrating wildlife. Customers stare into mirrors, turning their heads side to side beneath freshly shaped brims.

Some are buying their first cowboy hats. Others have worn the same one practically their entire lives.

For Lou Taubert, whose family has spent generations outfitting the West, that distinction matters less than people might think.

The store was built on ranchers, farmers and homesteaders. Today, the customers come from everywhere. Some work cattle and others work behind desks.

Some arrived in Casper specifically for the rodeo. Others wander in because they want to see what all the fuss is about.

"Western wear is a lifestyle," Taubert said.

CNFR week brings one of the biggest surges of the year, rivaled only by the holiday shopping season. The rodeo itself helps. So do the tourists flowing through Wyoming in June.

"The cowboy spirit is the way of the West," said Will Wenn, a lifelong Wyoming resident and owner of a local sound and lighting company. "It's our culture and people like to dress for the event and support rodeo."

Wenn has attended the CNFR for more than a decade, calling it "a weeklong celebration of cowboy culture."

The sprawling market at the Sports Ranch has become a destination all its own, drawing visitors who spend as much time shopping as they do watching bronc riders and barrel racers.

"Gotta make hay while the sun shines," Wenn said with a grin.

Ranch Vs. Rodeo

Western fever spreads quickly.

Teenagers wearing starched Canadian tuxedos drift past retirees in pearl snaps who remember Chris LeDoux during his bull riding days. 

Paisley wild rags bloom from collars like Indian paintbrush along a June highway. Tiny children stomp through the crowd like pint-sized ranch bosses conducting important business.

And while Rockies jeans and lace-up ropers have yet to make a comeback, nostalgia certainly has. Vintage Western prints, oversized belt buckles and squash blossom necklaces abound. 

Among the crowd are identical twins Dax and Brax, students in Laramie who spend winters playing hockey and summers working on a ranch.

Most days when they're not working, they wear shorts and T-shirts.

For the CNFR, both had their shirts tucked neatly into their jeans. Their belt buckles sat centered with precision between their belt loops.

They insisted they weren't trying to stand out. Which, at the CNFR, may be the surest sign that this wasn't their first rodeo.

Asked how to spot someone who isn't a "real" cowboy, Brax didn't hesitate.

"Gas station cowboy hats,” he said.

"No dirt on their boots" added Dax, glancing down at his own pair.

"These aren't that dirty," he acknowledged, but pointed out evidence of well-worn creases.

Mustaches And Mullets

Not everyone browsing the vendor booths plans to climb onto a horse. Most are perfectly content to watch the bull riding from the grandstands in rhinestone boots. 

Casper resident Ryan Domson, owner of Ruby Wyld, said there is a growing market for Western streetwear with people drawn to the culture and aesthetic of the West.

The look she sees most often blends Western and bohemian influences — Lace, fringe, flared denim, straight-leg Wranglers, sheepskin coats, and lots of turquoise. 

The result is a style equally at home at a rodeo, country concert or downtown bar.

Wenn has noticed the same shift.

When he isn't working at CNFR events, he often handles sound and lighting at local bars like the Backdoor Lounge.

There, he said, Western fashion has evolved into something distinctly modern — a neo-Western look influenced by country music, social media and celebrities like Post Malone, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson.

Taubert has noticed the same phenomenon.

Popular television shows like “Yellowstone" and country stars with distinctive Western styles routinely send customers searching for a particular hat, pair of boots or look they've seen online or on TV. Wilson's influence in particular shows up regularly in customer requests.

The trend isn't new.

Taubert remembers the frenzy surrounding John Travolta's 1980 classic movie "Urban Cowboy," when customers flocked to Western stores hoping to capture a little piece of Travolta's swagger.

Today's social media stars and country musicians are simply the latest chapter in a long tradition of celebrities shaping Western fashion.

The Modern West

Taubert believes part of Western wear's enduring appeal is that it never really goes out of style. Fashion trends come and go. Colors change. Cuts evolve.

But a good pair of boots remains a good pair of boots, he said. A Western shirt from decades ago still looks like a Western shirt today.

Perhaps that's why the CNFR for some feels less like a sporting event and more like a week of celebrating all things cowboy.

Some people arrive wearing clothes that have spent years collecting livestock hair and Wyoming dust. Others buy a Western wardrobe five minutes before walking through the gate.

Whether they're wearing boots scarred by ranch work or leather that still squeaks fresh out of the box, they're all chasing the same thing: experiencing the Cowboy Way. 

Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.