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Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Wyoming Life

Entertainment

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.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"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.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"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.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Gotta make hay while the sun shines,\" Wenn said with a grin."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ranch Vs. Rodeo"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"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.

[{"type":"text","text":"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.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Gas station cowboy hats,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"No dirt on their boots\" added Dax, glancing down at his own pair."}]

 dirty," he acknowledged, but pointed out evidence of well-worn creases.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"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.

[{"type":"text","text":"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.

[{"type":"text","text":"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.

[{"type":"text","text":"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.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"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. 

CNFR IMG 5439 3 copy 6 20 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Rodeo Week In Casper Means Mustaches, Mullets And Visitors Buying Up Western Wear | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Fringe, pearl snaps and enough cologne to stun a horse. For one week each June, thousands of competitors, families, vendors and spectators pour into Casper for the College National Finals Rodeo. Judging by the attendees, western fashion is alive and well.

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

Around Wyoming

A Casper man says he's being forced to part ways with his beloved Bigfoot-hunting rig at his wife's behest, blaming the vehicle's irresistible appeal to the opposite sex.

"I knew this day would come, but that doesn't make it hurt any less," Austin Griess wrote in a tongue-in-cheek Facebook post advertising his lifted 1984 AMC Eagle wagon for sale. "My wife is making me sell my lifted AMC Eagle because of all the attention it brings. 

"I only have eyes for her, yet this car seems to draw in way too many female lookers for my comfort."

Austin Griess found the 1984 AMC Eagle 4X4 Wagon on Facebook Marketplace during the dead of winter.

During the cold months he worked on it, installing a lift kit, tuning it up and making it reliable enough to serve as a daily driver. Then he said he turned it into a true “chick magnet” by added a modern stereo.

The goal was to debut the finished wagon with 150,000 original miles on it at a Memorial Day car show.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We didn't make it in time for entry,\" Griess said."}]

"The payment is due here in June," he joked. "No trophy making a payment."

After months of wrenching and modifying the Oldsmobile, he said that his wife has had enough of competing with the AMC for attention.

[{"type":"text","text":"“The wife just kind of had enough of me at that point,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"So, the Eagle is now looking for its next owner."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Finding Bigfoot"}]

Along with making whoever drives it irresistible, "This would be a perfect Bigfoot hunting rig,” said Griess, adding that his day job is in sales.

[{"type":"text","text":"The four-door Eagle is rugged, practical, and weird. "}]

"That's the ideal car to take your wife and two kids and throw all your crap in the back, go to the mountains for a picnic, and go fishing" says mechanical philosopher Ron Gordon. 

The Eagle is powered by a 4.2-liter inline-six engine shared with old Jeeps.

The original muffler is still hanging on, although Griess admits it's become a little rough around the edges.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's a little bit raspy,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Perfect For Wyoming"}]

Long before crossovers filled dealership lots, vehicles like the AMC Eagle were doing much of the same work.

Ron Gordon owned an auto shop in Big Piney for 15 years and has spent nearly 70 years around cars. When shown photos of Griess’ golden Eagle, his first reaction was blunt.

"One of the Lee brothers made it: Ug Lee or Home Lee," Gordon said with a laugh.

[{"type":"text","text":"But beneath the humor was genuine admiration."}]

"It was a pretty unique car in its day," he said. "It was the first real sport utility vehicle on the market."

[{"type":"text","text":"The Eagle debuted years before today's crossover craze."}]

It combined station wagon practicality with four-wheel-drive capability, making it particularly appealing in places where winter weather and rough roads were facts of life.

"It'd be good for anything from going fishing or to sheep ranch," Gordon said.

That versatility made vehicles like the Eagle a natural fit in the Cowboy State. 

Griess agrees, calling it "the perfect Wyoming car — great for snow, inclement weather and getting off the paved roads."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Before SUVs"}]

To understand why people get nostalgic about station wagons, Gordon said you have to remember what Wyoming life looked like decades ago.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then, a trip to town wasn't a quick errand."}]

"It was 60 miles to go buy groceries," Gordon recalled. "When you got in the car to go someplace, it was an event."

Station wagons weren't fashion statements, he added, "They were tools. They hauled groceries, hauled kids, and camping gear." 

Gordon remembers one summer when his family traveled to Idaho, where his father was working in the mountains.

The family camped, and he and his brothers slept in the back of a station wagon.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"There was a bear come in one night,\" Gordon said."}]

The animal poked holes in juice cans before dogs chased it away and up a tree. Looking back, Gordon laughs at the memory.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I guess the station wagon was a safe haven for me,” he said."}]

For families throughout the West, station wagons were simply part of life before minivans hit the scene.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Everybody that had a big family had a station wagon,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Time Machine "}]

Griess was born in 1988, but said he grew up surrounded by remnants of the decade. 

His parents were older. His uncles still wore the giant mustaches that survived long after the 1980s were over. 

"Life was simpler back then," says Griess. "If you wanted to do something, you just did it." 

[{"type":"text","text":"The AMC Eagle was meant to embody that mindset. "}]

"It just screams going out and camping with just the necessities," he said.

Music helps complete the vision. The Eagle has speakers — of course. Its soundtrack, according to Griess, has plenty of Molly Hatchet, Ted Nugent, and old-school rock.

It’s the kind of music that sounds best with the windows down and a dirt road ahead.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Let The Eagle Fly'"}]

Selling a lifted 1984 AMC Eagle won't be easy. Building it was part of the fun, said Griess, and bringing it to life was the reward. 

"It's hard to part with,” he added. "But when you have limited space, you've got to let go sometimes. Let the Eagle fly free."

Its next owner will get a lifted station wagon, a conversation starter, a piece of nostalgia, and a camper.

Or, as Gordon puts it, they'll get exactly what station wagons were always meant to be, "a helluva good car." 

AMC Eagle IMG 5493 6 20 26

<title>Casper Man Selling His 1984 AMC Eagle 'Chick Magnet' Because Wife Wants It Gone | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Casper man says his wife is making him sell his beloved Bigfoot-hunting rig — a lifted 1984 AMC Eagle wagon with 150,000 miles he says attracts too much female attention. "I knew this day would come, but that doesn't make it hurt any less,” he said.

Casper Man Selling His 1984 AMC Eagle 'Chick Magnet' Because Wife Wants It Gone

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Government & Politics

Politics

In the latest twist in efforts to ban 3D-printed “ghost guns,” New York state and California have moved to ban printers capable of making them. 

A New York law signed last month states that 3D printers should come with technology blocking them from making firearms or firearms parts. A similar measure is before the California Legislature. 

The gun-blocking technology for printers might not be available until 2029 at the earliest, the 

Gun control advocates are hailing the printer ban as a way to get a handle on so-called “ghost guns,” or untraceable firearms made with 3D printers and lacking serial numbers.

Advocates for banning 3D-printed guns argue that those guns are increasingly being used in crimes.

In Wyoming, a gun rights advocate and 3D printing business owner told Cowboy State Daily that the California and New York measures are pointless. 

People have always made their own firearms and should have the right to do so, said Mark Jones of Buffalo, a national director for Gun Owners of America (GOA). 

Banning 3D-printed guns, or the printers that make them, won’t change that, he said. 

From a technical standpoint, the bans won’t work, said Kevin Thomas, owner of T&G 3D Printing in Basin.

As he sees it, there’s no way to make printers that won’t produce certain items. Printers will produce whatever they’re programed to.

“The printer itself can’t determine what is being printed,” he said. 

The New York law and California bill direct experts to craft algorithms that could detect firearm blueprints. 

Hypothetically, the technology would analyze 3D printing designs against a digital library of firearm parts, and reject those that match the parts. 

Some industry experts have told lawmakers in those states that won’t work. 

Thomas agreed, saying that’s because 3D printer operators would still have the final say through “G-codes” they enter in their machines telling them what geometric shapes to cut. 

Trying to control G-codes would not only be impractical, but it would also amount to an infringement on freedom of speech and expression, Thomas said. 

Moreover, major firearms manufacturers such as Smith & Wesson also use gun-design software, he said, adding that efforts to regulate firearms out of the 3D printing world will backfire. 

“What will end up happening is there just won’t be any 3D printers for sale in California, so people there will just go across state lines to get them,” he said.

Firearms parts or accessories can be 3D-printed for sale, except lower receivers, Thomas said. The lower receiver is the part of the firearm including, for instance, the trigger assembly. 

Lower receivers can be created for personal use only. 

Thomas said he doesn’t print firearms parts or accessories because of possible legal complications.

For example, if he made a rifle stock for a customer, and that stock became part of a firearm that was later used in a murder, that might come back on him, he said. 

Jones said that concern over “ghost guns” is hyperbolic. 

“People have been making their own firearms since 1776,” he said. 

Democrats have also tried using firearms serial numbers to create databases for a national firearms registry, Jones added.

“It’s actually illegal to keep a registry of what guns people have, and we think it should be,” he said. 

Ghost gun 6 19 26

<title>California, New York Aim To Ban 3D Printers That Can Make ‘Ghost Guns’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

In the latest twist in efforts to ban 3D-printed “ghost guns,” lawmakers in New York and California are pushing to ban printers capable of making them.  From a technical standpoint, the bans won’t work, said Kevin Thomas, owner of T&G 3D Printing in Basin.

California, New York Aim To Ban 3D Printers That Can Make ‘Ghost Guns’

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

A Lander man faces homicide charges and up to 42 years in prison in connection with a Wednesday Riverton crash that killed two people. “I’m terribly sorry about what happened,” he said in court on Friday. “I’ve just been fighting addiction my whole life.”

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