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Julie Mankin

Eighth-grader Chaney Akin of Cody didn’t just dominate the National Junior High Finals Rodeo last week on her diminutive – but nationally famous – horse in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

Akin won the pole bending aggregate by almost a full second and capped the week by taking home All Around Cowgirl honors to rake in nearly $6,000.

Akin’s time of 19.60 seconds in the first round Tuesday morning – thought to be a Lazy E Arena record – came aboard her 19-year-old former trail-riding mare officially named Chick's Keen O Pocopoo but known affectionately by the family as “the little Paint donkey.”

“That was my fastest run ever in the poles,” said Akin, who had been awake all through the previous night thanks to tornado-related evacuations. “When I first looked at the scoreboard, I thought it said 19.9. But then I heard everyone screaming.”

The NJHFR drew more than 1,200 contestants from 40 states and six countries. Akin also finished 16th in barrel racing, on a gelding she trained, to secure the coveted All-Around Cowgirl award and lead the Wyoming girls to fourth in the team standings.

Two of the only other four sub-20.00 runs were posted by Casper’s Lanai Garnhart and Gillette’s Bella Moore. Garnhart finished second and 11-year-old Tinlee Thompson of Yoder third in the All Around Rookie Cowgirl standings behind a girl from Mexico.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Famous Horse"}]

It was Akin’s first NJHFR qualification, but her horse was already famous.

“Paint” became a rodeo Cinderella story in 2020 when Akin's mother, Brittney Sporer, took her all the way to the National Finals Rodeo in barrel racing despite the mare’s diminutive size and cowhorse breeding.

Many of the sport’s top fans didn’t realize at first that Akin was riding the same Paint. But the mare is distinctive.

She stands barely 14 hands tall and has such a narrow rear end that saddles must be custom-made. She got her wild red-and-white color from her sire, Mr. Dominator, and she’s out of a granddaughter of cowhorse legend Smart Chic Olena.

[{"type":"text","text":"She also has had cancer in one eye."}]

“She doesn't know she's 19,” Sporer wrote of Paint on Facebook after her daughter’s world titles. “She doesn't know how many miles she's traveled or how many memories she's made. She just knows she gets to load in the trailer and go somewhere with us to do the jobs she loves.”

Sporer grew up in Bakersfield, California, where she was sent Paint in 2016 for barrel-racing training when the mare was already 9. The duo made the California Circuit Finals Rodeo twice, and Sporer bought her along when she moved to Stephenville, Texas.

Since marrying Cody native Sid Sporer in 2022, she’s also made the Montana Circuit Finals twice on Paint. She said Paint has earned more than $300,000 running barrels.

“I did not like her at first,” Akin said of her mother’s rough-riding mare. “I hit a lot of barrels on her and don’t have much confidence on her in that event.”

But once the duo began winning at the poles, she’s decided she loves competing on Paint. Bending through all six poles six times at the NJHFR without a penalty for knocking one over is quite a feat.

“You just have to use your feet and not pull on her reins,” Akin said. “In the second round, I was a little handsy and had a 20.1. She lined out, after that.”

The NJHFR venue is smack in Tornado Alley. Last week, hundreds of families spent half of two nights evacuating horses from stalls and sheltering in the arena.

“The group of people who rodeo in Wyoming are amazing,” Sporer said. “One of the dads ran around to all of the trailers knocking to wake us up, and said, ‘We’ve got to go; there’s a tornado; we’ve got to get to the barn’. We hadn’t even gotten warnings on our phones. We loped our horses bareback up to the arena and sheltered for almost two hours.”

As of Monday, mother and daughter were eager to get home by July 2, when Sid Sporer is scheduled to compete in team roping at his big hometown rodeo in Cody.

Brittney Sporer admitted she and her daughter have started training all of his roping horses on the poles. He might not get them back, she joked. 

[{"type":"text","text":"However, Akin owes him."}]

 rodeo,” Brittney recalled. “At the time, I told my husband I was going to sell my horses. He said, ‘Absolutely not.’ Well, I texted him yesterday and said, ‘Thank you for not letting me sell my horse.’”

She said Akin, a home-schooled 14-year-old, has enjoyed living in Wyoming the past five or six years.

“She loves Wyoming, and the parents and the kids here are just amazing,” said Brittney, who still has a house in Texas and goes there “when it snows.” That’s why Chaney has decided to compete for the Cowboy State next year as a high school freshman.

“Ever since we left Texas, people were saying it was because the rodeos in Wyoming would be easier to win,” she said. “But all four Wyoming girls made the NJHFR short round in barrels. So, that is not the case. We went to Wyoming because it’s harder to qualify. In Texas, the qualifiers are whoever does well one day.”

And by now, winning the NJHFR has become a stepping stone for many of today’s top pro rodeo contenders. 

[{"type":"text","text":"None could say they won the world title on as unlikely a horse as Paint."}]

In fact, Brittney loves Paint so much she bought her dam as well, and is now training two half-brothers, including a 6-year-old Wyoming stallion Casino Heist. Plus, she has three babies from Paint, including a 3-year-old stallion by Wyoming’s top-producing barrel-racing sire Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.

The rarity is not just that Paint is a winner, Brittney said. It’s that she’s still sound and still winning after a million miles, through 10 years of racing and cancer.

“We have ridden her in an English saddle and jumped her,” she said, noting she once turned down a blank check to sell Paint. “She literally will do anything. She’s a special mare.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Now ridden by a world champion eighth-grader."}]

Akin pole bending at NJHFR credit NHSRA

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

<title>Cody Girl Wins Two World Rodeo Titles On Famous Horse At National Junior High Rodeo | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Chaney Akin of Cody didn’t just dominate the National Junior High Finals Rodeo last week on her diminutive – but nationally famous – horse in Oklahoma, she took home two world rodeo titles. Her famous horse has earned more than $300,000 running barrels.

Cody Girl Wins Two World Rodeo Titles On Famous Horse At National Junior High Rodeo

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Courts

A 75-year-old Goshen County man told investigators that after 

 near his property, he dumped them in the North Platte River because he didn’t have time to “shoot, shovel and shut up.”

Another man accused of helping dispose of the dogs in the river told investigators they were “too lazy” to bury them.

David Cronk made his first court appearance Friday on two charges each of felony animal cruelty and misdemeanor unlawful disposal of a dead animal so as to pollute.

Cronk said he shot the dogs once each on May 29 with a powerful .25-06 rifle because he felt his and a neighbor’s livestock may be threatened by the large dogs, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in his case by Goshen County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Green.

Four days later, Green caught up with Cronk at his home just outside Torrington, he wrote.

“As I was walking up his driveway, I observed him standing by a vehicle talking with someone else,” the affidavit says. “Cronk said something to the effect of, I was wondering when someone would show up and talk to me.”

[{"type":"text","text":"After a brief pause, Green wrote that he asked, “You did it?”"}]

“Cronk shook his head yes and waved at me to follow him so he could show me his fence lines, the livestock, and tell me what happened,” the affidavit says.

He told the deputy that he had been having chronic problems with stray dogs on and around his property and that he doesn’t call the sheriff’s office anymore to report them.

“Cronk said he didn’t know how it would turn out after killing the dogs, and he didn’t have time to ‘shoot, shovel and shut up,’ so he called his neighbor, Anthonie Conner, to help,” Green wrote.

With the help of his younger friend, they “put both the dogs into the river, and (Cronk) said he hoped they would float away, but there was not enough water,” the affidavit adds.

Cronk also said that he shot the second dog when it appeared it to be coming after him.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Cronk Had Help"}]

Green started his investigation on May 29 when someone reported finding the two dead Rottweilers in the river.

“When I walked towards the river, I observed two black-and-rust-colored dogs lying next to each other floating in the North Platte River,” he wrote in his affidavit.

After they were pulled from the river, Green wrote that he recognized their breed as Rottweilers and that there was still blood coming out of their bodies.

He also “observed large bullet wounds approximately the size of a silver dollar, one in each dog,” the affidavit says. “One was in the side of the neck and one was in the chest. It appeared they were shot with a large caliber gun.”

For his part, Conner, 31, admitted to investigators that he helped dump the dogs in the river because he and Cronk “were too lazy to put them in the back of his truck and go dig a hole,” the affidavit says.

Conner said he got a call from Cronk early that morning saying there were two Rottweilers outside Cronk’s fenceline and that they were “going to get his sheep,” Green wrote.

So, Conner got his .22-caliber rifle and was going out to help Cronk when he heard two loud gunshots.

“Conner initially thought they were warning shots, until he went down to the river and discovered (Cronk) shot both dogs,” according to the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","text":"They decided to keep it quiet."}]

“Conner told me that in the heat of the moment he really wasn’t thinking about it when they tossed them into the river,” Green wrote. “Conner hoped the dogs floated away and their problem would disappear.”

He also told investigators that he didn’t blame Cronk for shooting the dogs because stray dogs are a recurring problem in the area.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Accessory Could Get More Time Than The Shooter"}]

For the owners of the dogs, their deaths and the way they were disposed of has been more than upsetting.

Angelica Garcia told Cowboy State Daily shortly after they were found that the Rottweilers owned by her parents had gotten loose from their home. Hours later they were found dead by a woman and her son who were walking by a popular fishing spot on the river.

Garcia said the discovery of the two dogs, named Django and Hera, left her stunned.

"The top of Django's head was gone and Hera's neck and chest were gone," Garcia said. "They were family dogs. I trusted them around my kids.”

The family's frustration in the aftermath of the shooting led to an 

 that accused authorities of not doing enough to investigate the deaths.

"Whoever did this brutally murdered these dogs, took their collars and drug them off and dumped their bodies in the river," the petition reads.

 does permit dogs to be killed if they are running at livestock and the livestock has been injured or is threatened with injury. The law also shields the person who kills the dog from liability if the danger or damage can be shown.

In this case, Deputy Green wrote in his affidavit he doesn’t believe those thresholds were met.

“Based on my investigation, it does not appear Cronk, when he shot each dog, was either acting appropriately in defending livestock or engaged in appropriate self-defense,” he wrote in the affidavit.

For his alleged part in disposing of the dogs, Conner has been charged with a felony accessory after the fact to illegally shooting the Rottweilers and two misdemeanor charges of unlawful disposal of a dead animal so as to pollute.

The felony accessory charge carries potential penalties of up to three years in prison, a fine of not more than $3,000, or both.

Cronk’s felony cruelty to animals charges each can get him up to two years in prison, a fine of not more than $5,000, or both.

Each unlawful disposal charge both men face is punishable by up to six months in jail, a fine between $50 and $200, or both.

Conner also had his first appearance in Goshen County Circuit Court on Friday, and both men have preliminary hearings set for July 14, where it will be determined if there’s enough evidence to move forward with their felony charges.

Rottweilers and torrington 6 3 26

<title>Goshen County Men Say They Were ‘Too Lazy’ To Bury Shot Dogs, Dumped Them In River | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 75-year-old Goshen County man told investigators he shot a pair of Rottweilers and dumped them in the North Platte River because he feared for his livestock. A neighbor who helped him allegedly said they were “too lazy” to bury the shot dogs.

Goshen County Men Say They Were ‘Too Lazy’ To Bury Shot Dogs, Dumped Them In River

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Libby Lane of Red Lodge, Montana, was going about her usual business Monday at the Top of the World Resort on the Beartooth Highway. As of 1:30 p.m., it was still snowing up there.

“We’ve got about three inches of snow, and it's still snowing,” Lane told Cowboy State Daily. “It's blowing and melting off the road, but the road looks slick, icy, and slushy.”

The only vehicle Lane had seen was a snowplow that drove past in its effort to clear the highway, heading for Cooke City.

“I was hoping they’d open it today,” she said. “I haven't heard anything from anybody. Sometimes we're the last to know. Unfortunately, we have to look for the cars coming over the pass to know when it’s open.”

The Beartooth Highway was temporarily closed at 4:53 p.m. Sunday in anticipation of incoming snow. Monday’s snow vindicated the precautionary closure.

This is Lane's fourth season living and working at the Top of the World on the Wyoming side of the pass. When the Beartooth Highway closes, she and her coworkers are stranded at the summit until the road is deemed safe enough to traffic to resume. 

However, this wasn’t unusual from Lane’s perspective. Snow-related closures, even in late June, are “not a surprise at all.” 

“It’s very common,” she said. “We got our boots out this morning and just kept working.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Yellowstone’s Dunraven Pass Closes"}]

Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone National Park also closed Monday morning due to “winter weather conditions.”

“We’re looking at an inch of snow in Cooke City, Montana,” said Tessa Stetzr, with the National Weather Service office in Billings. “We were forecasting around 1 to 2 inches along the Beartooth Pass and 6 inches in the higher elevations.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Snow also fell farther south in Wyoming."}]

Stuart Pierson of Centennial was heading over the Snowy Range toward Saratoga when he encountered “a pleasant surprise.”

“I left my house around 10:30 a.m., and there was light snow as I went over the top near Barbara Lake Road,” he said. “Nothing was sticking yet, but there was a lot of snow in the air.”

None of this winter weather was expected to escape the mountains, and a cooler-than-average Monday will give way to temperatures in the 80s and low 90s by July 4.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Where’s That Coming From?"}]

The snow in northwest Wyoming came from a cold front moving across Montana, originating in the Pacific Northwest.

“There’s an upper-level low over Montana,” Stetzr said. “That's allowing cooler temperatures to make their way into the state and lowering the snow levels to around 7,000 feet.”

Lance VandenBoogart with the National Weather Service office in Riverton said that’s not unusual for northwest Wyoming or Yellowstone, even in the last days of June.

“Yellowstone and any high-elevation spot in northwest Wyoming can see snow any time of the year,” he said. “The high at Old Faithful was 44 degrees, and that’s not even record-breaking cold for this time of year.”

Still, there were cooler-than-average temperatures across Wyoming on Monday. Daytime highs were in the low 70s in central Wyoming and only in the mid-50s to mid-60s in the Bighorn Basin.

Many spots in Wyoming would welcome an inch or two of moisture. VandenBoogart said they’ll be going without.

“It’ll fizzle out by this evening,” he said. “This weather system will be weakening as it pushes through the mountains. The Bighorn Basin might see a couple of rain showers, but we’re not looking for much notable precipitation from this.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Heat Of The Moment"}]

If it’s cool and wet on June 29, what does that mean for the upcoming celebrations of the United States 250th anniversary on July 4?

VandenBoogart and Stetzr agreed that Monday’s high-elevation snow was an anomaly. By Friday, it’ll look and feel like summer again.

“We'll continue to have daily chances for afternoon showers and thunderstorms, but we're expecting temperatures to return to the upper 70s and low 80s for the second half of the week,” Stetzr said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Central and southern Wyoming could get even warmer."}]

“We’re looking at the low to mid 80s through the middle of the week,” VandenBoogart said. “By the time we get to Friday, through the Independence Day holiday, we're going to be probably upper 80s to around 90, closer to mid-summer normals.”

As for the Beartooth Highway, the National Park Service said the road would be opened “when conditions improve.” Based on the amount of snow seen on webcams in Cooke City, that probably won’t be until Tuesday.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Don’t Read Into It"}]

After a record-breaking dry winter and spring, some might be inclined to see June snow on the Beartooth Highway as a promising sign. After all, El Niño’s on the way and promises to disrupt global weather patterns in a way that could, possibly, benefit Wyoming.

The latest outlook from the NWS’s Climate Prediction Center still favors above-average moisture for Wyoming this summer. VandenBoogart doesn’t think anyone should read into it too much.

“Climatology isn’t going to be your best forecast,” he said. “The latest update is a slight lean toward above-normal precipitation for the western half of Wyoming in July, August, and September. It's not a sure thing, just that the odds are a little better than normal.”

Meanwhile, the snow on the Beartooth Highway isn’t indicative of anything other than the fact that anything can happen at a 10,000-foot elevation.

“If Casper got snow right now, that would be impressive,” VandenBoogart said. “When you're getting it up in the mountains and Yellowstone, snow happens when these cold systems ride through.”

Libby lane snow 6 29 26

<title>Ho, Ho, Ho! Rare June Snow Closes Beartooth Highway, Parts Of Yellowstone | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Winter is back in Wyoming as a late June snowstorm closed the Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone's Dunraven Pass. At 9,400 feet, the Top of the World store recorded three inches of snow. “We got our boots out and just kept working," said Libby Lane.

Ho, Ho, Ho! Rare June Snow Closes Beartooth Highway, Parts Of Yellowstone

[{"type":"text","text":"After 152 million years, Big Al is back."}]

The Wild West Dino Den will officially open in the Historic Red Shell Schoolhouse in Shell on July 27. The centerpiece exhibit is an exact skeletal replica of “Big Al,” a local icon and one of the most famous dinosaurs ever found.

 found near Shell in 1991. Now, 35 years after its discovery, 

 has brought the famous dinosaur back to its old stomping grounds.

“Big Al’s a big deal for us,” said Erik Kvale, president of the Wild West Dino Den. “Bringing this particular dinosaur back is going to put us on a lot of people’s radars before too long.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Best Of The Best"}]

While countless children and dinosaur enthusiasts know dinosaurs by their scientific names, many people know Big Al on a first-name basis. That’s because this dinosaur’s story is one of the most famous in paleontological history.

The fossilized skeleton of Big Al was found by Swiss paleontologist Kirby Siber in 1991. Because it was on federal land, the specimen was excavated by paleontologists from the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, the University of Wyoming Geological Museum, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Alberta, Canada.

Big Al’s skeleton was 95% complete, making it one of the most complete dinosaur specimens ever found.

The specimen became even more notable when a 2002 paper revealed 19 distinct skeletal injuries and diseases preserved in Big Al’s fossils.  Those afflictions include several fractured ribs, a torn-up hand, and a massive bone infection on the right middle toe.

Big Al was 17 years old when he died and still wasn’t a fully-grown adult. The still-unprecedented number of injuries revealed that this dinosaur was a survivor, despite the pain and debilitating life it would inevitably have endured before its demise.

“Big Al (is famous) because of the record of its life and times in its bones,” John Scannella, the John R. Horner curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, 

. “The more studies we can apply to this particular dinosaur, applying different techniques and analyses, the more we can learn about that animal’s life and the world around it.”

Big Al’s story was so compelling that it was featured in the 2000 BBC documentary, “Walking with Dinosaurs: The Ballad of Big Al.” The half-hour special, narrated by legendary Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh, won two Emmy Awards and made Big Al an international celebrity.

“It is the most famous dinosaur from our area,” Kvale said. “Now, he’s back on his home turf for the first time in 150 million years.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bring ‘Em Home"}]

The actual fossils of Big Al are in the permanent collections at the Museum of the Rockies, which is a repository for fossils from federal lands. A replica of the finished specimen still stands at the UW Geological Museum.

Big Al returned to Shell in a massive shipping crate last week. It will be officially unveiled to the public when the Wild West Dino Den officially opens Saturday.

“Our non-profit is registered as the Big Horn Basin Dinosaur and Geoscience Center, but we found that name was way too cumbersome,” Kvale said. “The world will know us as The Wild West Dino Den.”

Big Al will hang out in the Shell Schoolhouse for the discernible future, but not forever. Kvale’s goal is to open a permanent 4,000-square-foot museum in Greybull, where Big Al will be joined by replicas of other famous dinosaur specimens from the area.

“This is a big deal for us, but what people will see in Shell is a postage-stamp view of what we hope our larger museum will be like,” he said.

When the Wild West Dino Den opens June 27, people will get to see replicas of two other significant fossil finds from the area.

“Baby Toni” was acquired with a grant from the Big Horn Rural Electric Company. The 5-foot-long baby sauropod was found in the famous Howe-Stephens Quarry, a stone’s throw away from Big Al’s final resting place.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It’s the world's most complete baby sauropod,” Kvale said."}]

The other display is a nest of Allosaurus eggs. The only Allosaurus nest ever found was excavated by the Smithsonian Institution between Greybull and Shell.

“We have casts of 24 reconstructed Allosaurus eggs,” Kvale said. “The other 24 are on display in the Smithsonian’s dinosaur hall.”

Kvale said the museum already has the funds to acquire a replica of another exceptional dinosaur found near Shell. “Sophie,” the world’s most complete Stegosaurus, is on display in the Natural History Museum of London.

“We don’t have room to fit another dinosaur in the Shell Schoolhouse,” Kvale said. “Once we get a bigger museum, Sophie will be right down the pike.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hometown Hero"}]

On Friday, Kvale and several Wild West Dino Den board members gathered in Shell to assemble Big Al’s skeleton.

The 1:1 replica was purchased from Research Casting International in Ontario, Canada. It’s one of the most renowned companies in the world for skeletal replicas of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.

“They were very excited about Big Al coming home,” Kvale said. “They said they’d share the link to our museum on their website, so they’ll be giving us international attention.”

Everyone who helped assemble Big Al felt that they were participating in a historic moment.

“It felt like an honor,” said paleontologist Jessica Lippincott, author of “Wyoming’s Dinosaur Discoveries. “It felt historic. We were able to bring Big Al back to the place where he lived, died, and was discovered. It was awesome.”

Meanwhile, news of Big Al’s return has already gotten locals excited. Many remember the international media frenzy that descended on Shell surrounding the dinosaur's excavation.

“I spoke to someone who remembered going out to see Big Al being excavated when he was a kid,” Kvale said. “He’s in his 40s now, and he’s thrilled that Big Al is back.”

Kirby Siber, the man who discovered Big Al, went on to build 

. One of Europe's largest dinosaur museum, Sieber filled it with dozens of spectacularly well-preserved dinosaurs from Shell, including Baby Toni and “Big Al 2,” a similarly injured Allosaurus.

Kvale got an email from Siber, who said he was proud to call the Wild West Dino Den “our sister museum.”

The Wild West Dino Den will officially open to the public between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.  June 27. From there, Kvale hopes they’ll have the schoolhouse open to the public “most days of the week” this summer.

Meanwhile, the museum’s board is working with the town of Greybull to pursue funding for Big Al’s permanent home.

“At the rate we’re progressing, that’ll be three to four years down the road,” he said. “The agreement we have is that the town of Greybull will pursue the funding for the building, and we’ll acquire the dinosaurs to put inside.”

Big Al isn’t the largest dinosaur intended for the museum, but it carries the most significance for Kvale and his board. It’s like an international celebrity making a triumphant homecoming after 152 million years.

“I feel like we’re getting the ball rolling,” Kvale said. “The world knows Big Al, and locals know Big Al. It’s a famous fossil and a very big deal for us.”

Contact Andrew Rossi at andrew@cowboystatedaily.com

Big Al IMG 0472 6 28 26

<title>After 35 Years, 152-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur 'Big Al' Returns Home To Wyoming | Cowboy State Daily</title>

“Big Al,” a world-famous 152-million-year-old dinosaur found near Shell in 1991, is back home in Shell, Wyoming. Big Al’s skeleton is 95% complete, making it one of the most complete dinosaur specimens ever found.

After 35 Years, 152-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur 'Big Al' Returns Home To Wyoming

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Business & Tourism

Business

Chugwater is not the place where most people would expect to find high fashion.

But that is exactly what they’ll find along the tiny town’s main drag — a new vintage Western clothing shop, run by a woman with roots in the high-powered fashion worlds of Italy and New York. 

In a town better known for its annual chili cook-off than haute couture, the BB West Vintage boutique joins a growing number of historic buildings turned destination businesses pulling tourists off Interstate 25 and keeping a rural main street alive.

Claudia Borchardt is her name, and she’s married to a Wyoming rancher just outside of Chugwater. But her fashion story starts a world away.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Beginning Of A Dream"}]

At first, Claudia didn’t dare dream of starting a clothing store about as far off the beaten path as a person can get — in a town of less than 200 people in the least-populated state in the U.S. 

She’d owned a boutique in Brooklyn, New York, and knew just how difficult retail could be, even in a more populous community. 

“When I moved here, my career obviously didn’t exist,” she said. 

That had her asking herself what kind of work she could do from home to keep the creative muscles working and feel more a part of the community. 

She tried a few things. First, she leaned into her marketing experience, working with The Historic Plains Hotel in Cheyenne to sell tourist packages and such. 

But there’s just something about the fashion industry that refuses to be quiet in her head.

“So, about eight years ago I started an Etsy business,” she said. “And I was selling vintage Western wear — kids and adults — and it really took off. I found that there’s a market for what we take for granted, for what everyone probably already has in their closet from grandma.”

Turns out, people in big cities and even other countries just love Western fashion, especially now with popular television shows like Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone”. 

A woman who grew up in the high-powered fashion industry in Italy and New York has decided to open a vintage Western boutique out of a former Standard gas station in Chugwater. She’d owned a boutique in Brooklyn so she knows how difficult retail can be.

Donald Lee Simmons, 90