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Tag: national western stock show

  • Citizen of the West George Eidsness lives by the West’s unwritten moral code

    Very few people embody the spirit of the West quite like George Eidsness.

    From his upbringing in northeastern North Dakota to building Transwest automotive group into a diverse group of businesses, Eidsness hasn’t forgotten the simple rules that make the Western way of life so special.

    And after more than 70 years of unrelenting hard work and a “fix-anything-with-a-pocket-knife” type of resilience, Eidsness has earned the honor of being named the 2026 Citizen of the West from the National Western Stock Show.

    George Eidsness, who has been honored with The Citizen of the West award by the National Western Stock Show, poses for a portrait on his ranch, the Flying E Ranch in Fort Lupton on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025. (Brice Tucker/Staff Photographer)

    The award “recognizes those who embody the spirit and determination of the Western pioneer — a true representative of the Western lifestyle, ideals, agricultural heritage and traditions,” according to the stock show’s website.

    “It’s pretty humbling,” Eidsness said. “Like a friend of mine said, ‘You’re walking in pretty tall cotton.’ A lot of great people before me have received it, and to be put in a class with them is a real honor.”

    Raised on a wheat farm near Brocket, N.D., that spirit was instilled in him at a young age. He took it with him to the University of North Dakota, where he earned a degree in business, then to Fargo, N.D., where he spent 17 years wearing a number of different hats at a local dealership.

    In 1990, he and his wife, Barbara, bought Transwest Trucks, a Commerce City dealership that had been in business for just 18 months at the time. In the 35 years since, Transwest has grown exponentially, now with 25 locations across the western United States and Canada. Its dealerships specialize in service, sales and parts for the heavy-duty truck, trailer, automotive and recreational vehicle industries.

    As Transwest began to quickly expand, Eidsness and his wife decided they needed a little room to stretch their legs as well — both professionally and personally.

    In 1996, Eidsness acquired Steamboat Lake Outfitters and the Flying E Ranch.

    “We were going to build a new house in town (Westminster), but decided that city life wasn’t really what we wanted,” Eidsness said. “We wanted to be out in the country and had an opportunity to buy an 80-acre parcel of land near Fort Lupton.”

    Chris Bolin

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  • At the National Western Stock Show, Colorado 4-H teens hope to make the sale

    Ever since Grace Kennedy met Quinn in May, the teenager’s goal has been to fatten the Hereford calf up — but not too much, not if she wants to auction it off at this month’s National Western Stock Show in Denver.

    Quinn, who is about a year-and-a-half old, weighed 460 pounds when Grace won the animal from the Stock Show’s Catch-A-Calf program. The calf weighed about 1,250 pounds as of early December.

    “They just want a good-looking carcass,” Grace, who lives just outside of Morrison, said of the judges who will determine how well she did in raising Quinn for beef.

    The 17-year-old is just one of Colorado’s 4-H youth members who will attend the Stock Show in hopes of making a sale. Teenagers from across the state will come to Denver to auction off cattle, goats and other livestock, with the goal of earning money for college, first cars or to reinvest in their farming endeavors.

    4-H student Grace Kennedy, 17, tries to convince her one-year-old steer, Quinn, to continue his walk around the property on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Morrison, Colo. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)

    The Stock Show began Saturday and will run through Jan. 25.

    “Being from Colorado, I feel like it would be really cool making a sale in a national show in your state,” 15-year-old Ty Weathers said.

    Ty, who lives on a cattle ranch outside of Yuma in northeastern Colorado, has been showing cows since he was about 7 years old. He will show a steer named Theodore at the Stock Show this year, and he hopes to sell the animal to earn money for a car.

    Unlike Grace, who received Quinn through the Catch-A-Calf program, which requires participants to sell their calves during the Stock Show, there’s no guarantee Ty will make a sale.

    “I like winning,” Ty said, referring to his hope he’ll be able to auction Theodore off for the highest price. “I’ve grown up in it, so it’s just a part of life.”

    Zemery Weber, who lives in Gill in Weld County, started showing goats when she was 8 years old to earn money, but this is her first time doing so at the Stock Show.

    “I got a goat this year that seems to be pretty good,” the 14-year-old said. “I’m excited, but I’m also nervous because it’s my first time.”

    Zemery will show a goat named Nemo. She plans to save part of the money she earns from selling the goat for meat for her first car and college.

    Zemery Weber, 14, leads her goat, Nemo, outside of the barn at her mother's home near Gill, Colo., on Dec. 15, 2025. Weber plans to show the goats at the National Western Stock Show. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
    Zemery Weber, 14, leads her goat, Nemo, outside of a barn at her mother’s home near Gill, Colo., on Dec. 15, 2025. Weber plans to show the goats at the National Western Stock Show. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

    “It has helped me become the person that I am,” Zemery said of showing goats. “It is a very good experience for students to have and kids to have to learn responsibility and reliability.”

    Showing animals is just one way students can participate in the Stock Show.

    In the Front Range, county 4-H programs — which have youth participate in agricultural, STEM and other projects — also put on a field trip for elementary school students to visit the show so they can learn about animals and where their food comes from, said Josey Pukrop, a 4-H youth development specialist with the Colorado State University Extension in Jefferson County.

    Last year, about 12,000 children participated in the field trip, she said.

    4-H has been operating nationally for more than 120 years, through it, children participate in programs that include showing livestock, gardening and building robots. The youth program is largely funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, according to the agency’s website.

    More than 100,000 Colorado students participate in 4-H via community clubs and other programming, said Michael Compton, the state 4-H program director at the CSU Extension.

    Like Ty, Grace’s family is in the cattle business, but it wasn’t until the pandemic that she began to take an interest and dream of owning her own ranch someday.

    Grace’s foray into cows began when the dance studio she attended closed because of COVID-19 in 2020. Grace, in search of a new hobby, got into horses and trail riding with her father.

    4-H student Grace Kennedy, 17, leads her one-year-old steer, Quinn, around the property as training for being shown at the National Western Stock Show next month, on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Morrison, Colo. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
    4-H student Grace Kennedy, 17, leads her one-year-old steer, Quinn, around the property as training for being shown at the National Western Stock Show next month, on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Morrison, Colo. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)

    Soon after, she took an interest in cows and worked on her grandfather’s cattle ranch in South Dakota during the summer. Grace’s parents have their own herd near Morrison, and the teenager has started breeding and raising her own cattle.

    “Animals are the coolest things,” Grace said. “They are here to teach us something, to teach us life qualities. They’re peaceful.”

    Grace has been a member of 4-H for six years, showing cattle for four.

    She is participating in the Stock Show’s Catch-A-Calf program, which loaned her a calf so she can learn cattle management.

    The Catch-A-Calf program started in 1935 and is open to teens ages 14 to 18 who live in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming, according to the Stock Show’s website.  

    “Sometimes it’s kids that haven’t raised these animals before,” Pukrop said.

    Zemery Weber, 14, cleans the pens for her goats, Theo, left, and Nemo, in a barn at her mother's home near Gill, Colo., on Dec. 15, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
    Zemery Weber, 14, cleans the pens for her goats, Theo, left, and Nemo, in a barn at her mother’s home near Gill, Colo., on Dec. 15, 2025. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)

    Teens participating in the program have to rope a calf, feed it and return the cow to the next Stock Show to be judged on showmanship and carcass quality. The program’s Grand and Reserve Grand Champions get to sell their steers at an auction held on the final Friday of the Stock Show, according to the website.

    Jessica Seaman

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  • From soccer fields to fiddle strings, Bear Creek senior Jesse Quintana masters both

    LAKEWOOD, Colo. — At first glance, Jesse Quintana looks like any other Bear Creek High School senior juggling school and soccer. But off the field, he’s striking a different kind of chord as one of the top young fiddle players in the country.

    “I was two years old when I got my first fiddle,” Quintana told Denver7 Sports. “My mom and dad just got me a small fiddle for Christmas, and I was into it right away. I would play that thing for eight hours a day, just nonstop.”

    His love for music started even earlier, thanks to family traditions and Colorado’s bluegrass culture.

    “My grandma played the violin, which is more classical-based, but at the White Fence Farm, there was a lot of bluegrass jams that I would go to,” he said. “My parents would bring me there, even when I was in the womb. My mom said whenever we’d go to a jam, I’d just be kicking a bunch.”

    When he was just 4 years old, Quintana stepped on stage with his fiddle for the first time at the National Western Stock Show, where he still returns to compete every January.

    “Oh, it’s so fun. It brings in people from all over the United States, and we get to fiddle together,” he said. “I fell in love with it; it’s an adrenaline rush for sure.”

    Since then, Quintana has competed and won at both state and national levels. On the soccer field, he brings the same passion and discipline, but his coach, Brent Carpenter, said his humility stands out most.

    “Jesse is such a humble kid,” Carsaid. “You would really never know what champion he is — I mean, he’s a good soccer player, but you would have never known that he had this other skill that so few humans possess. I mean, he’s top 1% of all fiddle players.”

    After high school, Quintana plans to study engineering, but he doesn’t plan to leave the fiddle behind.

    “I definitely want to keep it up on the side and keep going to competitions and start teaching if I get a chance,” he said.

    Balancing two passions that couldn’t be more different, Quintana proves that young athletes don’t have to choose just one path.

    Denver7

    Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Bradey King

    Denver7’s Bradey King reports on the entire sports landscape in Colorado, including Denver’s pro teams, but is always looking for stories off the field and in the non-professional ranks. If you’d like to get in touch with Bradey, fill out the form below to send her an email.

    Bradey King

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  • Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office arrests suspect in ongoing human trafficking investigation

    JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — A suspect in an ongoing human trafficking investigation was arrested earlier this month, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday.

    In January during the National Western Stock Show, the Jeffco sheriff’s office said it conducted an undercover operation called “Rodeo Rescue.” Investigators rescued two adults that were believed victims of human trafficking and connected them with support services.

    The Jeffco sheriff’s office said it identified Cortez D’Angelo Dennis, 31, as a suspect in the trafficking of women from across the Denver metro area.

    On September 10, Dennis was arrested and booked into Arapahoe County Jail on charges of Human Trafficking for Sexual Servitude and Pimping. He is in custody on $500,000 cash-only bond.

    The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said it believes there may be additional victims of human trafficking that have not yet been identified.

    Anyone who believes they may be a victim or have information about this case is asked to call the Jeffco sheriff’s office tip line at 303-271-5612.

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  • Opinion: Colorado ballot measures, again, pit Front Range voters against rural Colorado

    Opinion: Colorado ballot measures, again, pit Front Range voters against rural Colorado

    Tell me you don’t like rural Coloradans without telling me. That’s what two initiatives will ask the state’s urban-suburban majority to do this November; tell rural folks they’re not welcome in their own state, that their ways are passé, particularly ranching and hunting.

    Initiative 91 would outlaw the hunting of bobcats and mountain lions. The initiative is both unnecessary and a slap in the face to rural populations who live with these predators and take part in their management through hunting. These animals are plentiful and well managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife in partnership with hunters, many of whom hail from the rural Western Slope.

    Contrary to advocates’ assertions, Colorado law already prohibits hunting mountain lions for sport; the meat must be harvested for consumption. Initiative 91 not only rejects science-based wildlife management, it is a deliberate affront to the rural way of life which for many includes hunting and fishing.

    Not surprisingly, Colorado’s most recent experience with ballot box biology hasn’t gone well for rural Coloradans. Veal beat venison in a wolf taste test. Thanks to Proposition 114, wolves were reintroduced to western Colorado in December 2023. Soon after, several of them decided to ditch swift deer for slow livestock. They’ve killed 16 calves, cows, and sheep in Grand County alone.

    Ranchers appealed to the state for relief. CPW is planning to trap the depredating wolves to relocate them. During similar trap and relocation efforts in Montana, mated pairs separated and abandoned their pups. Scientists over at CPW knew the potential consequences of bringing back this apex predator and resisted it until a narrow majority of voters forced their hand. If urban voters had known that the romantic notion of wolf reintroduction meant eviscerated livestock and dead puppies, would they have voted differently?

    Wolves won’t be the only ones going after ranchers’ livelihoods if another initiative passes. Denver voters will be asked in November to shut down the 70-year-old employee-owned Superior Farm slaughterhouse near the National Western Stock Show complex. Not only would the employees lose their jobs, the closure will adversely impact sheep ranchers and the state’s economy.

    According to a study by the Colorado State University Regional Economic Development Institute, the business generates around $861 million in economic activity and supports some 3,000 jobs. The Denver facility carries about a fifth of all U.S. sheep processing capacity. If it is not rebuilt elsewhere in Colorado, Colorado ranchers will have fewer options and could go out of business for want of places to send their livestock.

    According to the study, the loss of U.S. processing capacity will prompt markets to replace domestic supply with imports. Consumers will likely pay more for meat. Also, not every country that raises and slaughters sheep has same humane livestock regulations and standards as the U.S.

    A minority of voters could negatively impact the majority not just in Colorado. The people pushing this initiative represent an even smaller minority. They don’t believe humans should eat meat, according to their website, and this is their way to take a bite out of the age-old practice.

    Most vegetarians and vegans are live and let live but a small percentage would like to foist their lifestyle on the rest of us. It only took 2% of registered voters in Denver to push this ballot question that would single out a business for closure, toss its employees out of work, harm ranchers throughout the state, cost the state millions of dollars in economic activity, force markets to import meat, and reduce choices for those who want locally-sourced products.  It’s hard to imagine a worse idea.

    If urban and suburban voters are tempted to support these no-good, feel-good initiatives, they should first visit their neighbors on either side of the Front Range who will be impacted.  A little empathy for rural Colorado is wanting.

    Krista L. Kafer is a weekly Denver Post columnist. Follow her on X: @kristakafer.

    Krista Kafer

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