The Stock Show Must Go On! (#1)

Photos of the National Western Stock Show parade in downtown Denver from a couple of different years. Each January, cowboys wrangle cattle down 17th Street--the Wall Street of the Rockies. Other parade participants ride their horses, as well:





From my fictional novel A Western Capitol Hill:

Every year, the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo takes place in Denver. Ranch families with smelly animals converge upon it. It’s a chance for farmers and stockmen from all over the country, some from distances over 1,500 miles away, to show off their breeds; maybe even sell a little bull semen for breeding purposes, on the side. It’s a long-time tradition, and a plaque in the State Capitol attests to the economic force of Colorado ranchers. Horny cowboys and transient whores arrive in Denver, simultaneously.

Sheila had been to the stock show, once, when she was real little and had lived in a farming town.

She remembers how, while she was watching the horses, an old man with a big white cowboy hat had bent down beside her. He pointed and said, “Look at those fine animals, little miss. Back in the old days, we used horses for work: my own daddy would drive his cattle down to the stockyards here.” His eyes glowed and he smiled, yet a sigh escaped his lips. “Now the horses are just for show.”