A rider competes during a Jumper Show in the Cinch Arena at the Events Center of the National Western Complex, Jan. 15 during the 117th National Western Stock Show. In this event, equestrian athletes compete where the fastest and highest jumping pair is considered the winner. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
The National Western Stock Show plays host to nearly every variety of cattle in the beef game. During the 16 days the event is in town, you could see the standard Black Angus or the more exotic Yak, depending on the day of attendance. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
A rider and her horse, with flames shaved from it’s fur, maneuver the course during a Jumper Show in the Cinch Arena at the Events Center of the National Western Complex, Jan. 15 during the 117th National Western Stock Show. In this event, equestrian athletes compete where the fastest and highest jumping pair is considered the winner. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
The National Western Stock Show plays host to nearly every variety of cattle in the beef game. During the 16 days the event is in town, you could see the standard Black Angus or the more exotic Yak, depending on the day of attendance. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
Adjacent to the Cinch Arena in the Events Center of the National Western Stock Show Complex, you’ll find rows of stalls occupied by elegant equines. Awaiting competition, these gentle giants are able to be seen and pet by visitors to the stock show. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
The National Western Stock Show plays host to nearly every variety of cattle in the beef game. During the 16 days the event is in town, you could see the standard Black Angus or the more exotic Yak, depending on the day of attendance. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
The National Western Stock Show plays host to nearly every variety of cattle in the beef game. During the 16 days the event is in town, you could see the standard Black Angus or the more exotic Yak, depending on the day of attendance. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
A rider and her horse leap over a double gate obstacle during a Jumper Show in the Cinch Arena at the Events Center of the National Western Complex, Jan. 15, during the 117th National Western Stock Show. In this event, equestrian athletes compete where the fastest and highest jumping pair is considered the winner. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
The National Western Stock Show plays host to nearly every variety of cattle in the beef game. During the 16 days the event is in town, you could see the standard Black Angus or the more exotic Yak, depending on the day of attendance. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
The National Western Stock Show plays host to nearly every variety of cattle in the beef game. During the 16 days the event is in town, you could see the standard Black Angus or the more exotic Yak, depending on the day of attendance. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
Adjacent to the Cinch Arena in the Events Center of the National Western Stock Show Complex, you’ll find rows of stalls occupied by elegant equines. Awaiting competition, these gentle giants are able to be seen and pet by visitors to the stock show. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
The National Western Stock Show plays host to nearly every variety of cattle in the beef game. During the 16 days the event is in town, you could see the standard Black Angus or the more exotic Yak, depending on the day of attendance. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
A rider and her horse leap over a gate during a Jumper Show in the Cinch Arena at the Events Center of the National Western Complex, Jan. 15, during the 117th National Western Stock Show. In this event, equestrian athletes compete where the fastest and highest jumping pair is considered the winner. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
The National Western Stock Show plays host to nearly every variety of cattle in the beef game. During the 16 days the event is in town, you could see the standard Black Angus or the more exotic Yak, depending on the day of attendance. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
Adjacent to the Cinch Arena in the Events Center of the National Western Stock Show Complex, you’ll find rows of stalls occupied by elegant equines. Awaiting competition, these gentle giants are able to be seen and pet by visitors to the stock show. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
The National Western Stock Show plays host to nearly every variety of cattle in the beef game. During the 16 days the event is in town, you could see the standard Black Angus or the more exotic Yak, depending on the day of attendance. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
The National Western Stock Show plays host to nearly every variety of cattle in the beef game. During the 16 days the event is in town, you could see the standard Black Angus or the more exotic Yak, depending on the day of attendance. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
For two weeks in January, a little slice of Denver transforms into a cowtown.
Not long into the beginning of each new year, The National Western Stock Show lays claim to the Denver Coliseum and the National Western Complex to offer what is billed as “The Best 16 Days in January.”
Granted, most of January in Denver is little more than bitter Arctic winds blowing in off the Front Range or short days where the sun dances low enough on the southern horizon to leave a nice layer of perma-snow on the ground. Somehow, this more-than-a-century old tradition brings those in the metro area out to catch a glimpse at award-winning livestock, professional rodeos and a bevy of other agricultural themed events and exhibits — bone chilling temperatures or not.
Celebrating its 117th year, the National Western Stock Show is one of the largest annual agriculture conventions in the country, and celebrated record-breaking attendance during the weekend of Jan. 14.
One might be hard pressed to think that the sites and smells were much different in 1898, when the show first opened. That’s, of course, excluding the fairground style food vendors hawking $22 turkey legs or the $40 parking fee in the surrounding lots.
— Philip B. Poston, Sentinel Photo Editor