Team ropers Kyler Bramhall and Zack Bocco drove all night from Texas to Casper for the College National Finals Rodeo. They arrived at 9:30 a.m., watered their horses and went to Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters to shop.
After trying on hats and checking out the long-sleeve shirts, the cowboys said they’d be back to buy more if they win money at the rodeo. “Winning is a big game-changer,” Bocco said with a smile.
“We come before to look and that motivates us to win.”
The two shoppers heard about Taubert’s Western store from their coach, C.J. Mohl, who’s back in Casper for his fifth CNFR.
All over Casper, merchants spent the past week getting ready for the arrival of about 400 competitors, 100 coaches and 1,300 or so friends and family here for the CNFR, which kicks off today and runs through Saturday. They ordered extra eggs, potatoes and hamburgers at Casper’s Good Cooking, located just down the road from the rodeo at the Casper Events Center.
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“We hire more servers and another cook. The restaurant is busy all day, every day,” said manager Michael Paul.
At The Fire Rock Steakhouse, manager Ted Klatt said they stock up on Angus beef, a house specialty, expecting a crowd of beef-eaters in the ranchers and rodeo fans. Lines will be out the door for the next week, according to Klatt, and they get an extra rush late each evening after the rodeo is over.
Time and money
Each of the contestants has three or four people along for the ride, according to Sarah Neely of the group that sponsors the event, the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association.
How much will the visitors spend in their time here? An impressive $8.1 million, said Aaron McCreight, CEO of the Casper Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. That is not an amount multiplied by any factor; it’s the direct visitor spending in Casper last year from the CNFR.
Using a Wyoming Tourism Department study to break down the numbers, McCreight said visitors spent $2.2 million on food and beverages, $1.8 million on retail shopping, $1.3 million on entertainment, $1.1 million on automobile expenses and $1.1 million on hotels. Another half million is classified as “miscellaneous.”
One reason for the big spending is the nature of the rodeo. Lou Taubert, co-owner of Taubert Ranch Outfitters, said that because the rodeo is at night, fans and contestants have all day to shop, unlike people attending a convention that requires attendance all day.
Eight members of the Taubert family will be on hand to work at the store, along with a number of former employees who come for the week to help. While many of the Casper merchants compare CNFR week to the Christmas shopping season in terms of their booming business, Taubert explained that it is like a ranching business. “There are those times of year when you sell, the harvest,” he said. “We wait for the harvest — June and December.”
Longtime Taubert’s employee Randall Lompe said that “across the board, there’s not a department that’s slow.”
Quality Inn manager Tammie Burch echoes the point that the rodeo visitors are around a lot. “The hotel is busy throughout the day; continental breakfast is very popular and busy,” she said. The parking lot is full of horse trailers and there are three or four people in a room, Burch said, adding “I make sure I’m fully staffed.”
Politeness
People like to see the CNFR attendees not only for the money they spend, said Taubert. “They’re good ag ranch kids coming to the store. It’s ‘ma’am’ and ‘thank you’; we appreciate them.”
McCreight added that local businesses have increased their sponsorship dollars for the CNFR. “The support is still there. It’s not taken for granted,” he said. Sales of tickets for the rodeo are up 9 percent over last year, according to Dave Park, local CNFR committee chairman in comments to the Casper City Council.
Renee Penton-Jones has seen the rodeo from the inside, as a former member of the CNFR committee and now from the outside as executive director of the Downtown Development Authority. Her opinion?
“I have seen how the community has opened their hearts and pocketbooks to help a very worthy sport continue to grow. In return, that sport has delivered on its promise to share its successes with the people of Casper and Wyoming.”
