Photo: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
For ten days every July, Cheyenne Frontier Days turns Wyoming’s capital into one of the busiest places in the Mountain West. The event’s own numbers show how much that means to the local economy, and how much of it comes from people who live somewhere else.
The headline number
According to Cheyenne Frontier Days’ 2024 Report to Our Community, visitors from outside Laramie County spent about $50.4 million in the county during and around the 2024 event, up from $40.3 million in the previous study, for 2021. The study was prepared by Dean Runyan Associates of Portland, Oregon, a firm that specializes in travel economics. Frontier Days says it commissions such studies about every three years.
Where the money went
- $16.4 million on entertainment and recreation, including tickets
- $14.3 million on retail purchases, including fuel and groceries
- $11 million on lodging
- $8.8 million on food and drink at restaurants and bars
The study also estimated that visitor spending supported about 660 full- and part-time jobs and $17.6 million in earnings, and generated about $2.6 million in state and local taxes.
Who comes
Frontier Days estimates combined attendance at all of its events at about 550,000 over the ten days. That counts the same person more than once if they attend several events. For 2024 the event reported 263,640 tickets sold across rodeos, concerts and other ticketed events. Many of the best-known events, including the parades and the pancake breakfasts, are free.
Why it matters beyond July
Lodging is the clearest local signal. Cheyenne’s hotels fill for the event at peak rates, and lodging tax collected during the event helps fund the city’s tourism promotion through Visit Cheyenne for the rest of the year. Frontier Days is a nonprofit run largely by volunteers, and it funds its facilities at Frontier Park from event revenue.
Reading the numbers
Economic impact studies count spending by visitors who would not otherwise have been in the county. They do not subtract money local residents might have spent elsewhere, and they are commissioned by the event itself, so they are best read as a measure of the outside money an event brings in rather than a full cost-benefit analysis. For the rodeo itself, see our regional rodeo calendar.
Sources
- Cheyenne Frontier Days, 2024 Report to Our Community (released February 2025).
- Dean Runyan Associates, economic impact methodology.
- Visit Cheyenne.
