National rodeo competition isn’t just for cowboys

Lisa Snedeker

Saturday, Dec. 2, 2000 | 9:11 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - Call it the invasion of the large belt buckles.

The 2000 National Finals Rodeo is back in town but it brings more than Wranglers and cowboy hats, busted-up bull riders and pickup trucks.

It's like a Comdex convention with boots.

An estimated 40,000 out-of-town visitors are expected to attend the 16th annual rodeo competition at the Thomas & Mack Center as well as companion events around town. The non-gaming economic impact from the chaps-and-spurs crowd is expected to exceed $30 million, according to Kirk Hendrix, president of Las Vegas Events.

"The NFR continues to be a cornerstone event for Las Vegas," said Hendrix, in part, because it brings a large number of visitors in December, which is traditionally a slow tourist time.

The Super Bowl of rodeos, the $4.5 million championship event began Friday and runs through Dec. 10. Only the top 15 contestants in each event of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the Women's Professional Rodeo Association barrel racing qualify for the NFR, which for 41 years has determined the world champions of professional rodeo in such areas as bull riding, bareback bronc riding, steer wrestling and team roping.

Ticket sales for the 10-day event are 175,000, most of which were sold before the dust settled last year. All 10 rounds of NFR are televised on ESPN or ESPN2 and reach an estimated 9 million viewers.

Because the number of tickets are limited, many come to watch the competition on live telecasts on big screen TVs in 32 casinos up and down the Strip.

NFR is not the city's largest event - it pales in comparison to the 250,000 that the Comdex computer show draws - but don't tell the cowboys that theirs is not the biggest dadgum thing going.

Once a year, the rodeo takes Las Vegas back to the western town it was. Horse trailers fill the convention center parking lot. Throughout the city - in Starbucks or the upscale Fashion Show Mall - cowboys and cowgirls prevail.

And so does their entertainment.

After the rodeo competition each night, it's a country music lover's dream because there are several artists to choose from including Toby Keith, Lorrie Morgan, Brooks and Dunn, Clint Black and Tanya Tucker.

In fact, NFR kicked off Thursday with a free boot-stomping, yee-hawing hoe-down downtown at Fremont Street that this year featured Chely Wright, Terri Clark, Brad Paisley and Eric Heatherly among others.

John Bloss, who does a mean Reba McEntire impersonation, draws them in at the Riviera hotel-casino on the Strip, while comedian Jeff Foxworthy is appearing at the Las Vegas Hilton, Elvis Presley's old hangout. Ricky and the Redstreaks pack in country fans by the thousands every night at the Stardust, where shows begin at 11 p.m. and last until the party is over or hotel management throws them out.

Then there's the NFR Cowboy Christmas Gift Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center that attracts exhibitors from across the country and runs daily throughout the rodeo.

That's where you'll find handmade ornaments, saddle blankets, wooden furniture, bits and spurs, leather dusters and hats.

Not just any hats - custom hats.

And why does everyone need a custom-made cowboy hat?

"Fit, quality and serviceability of the product," said Rich Rand, a custom-hatmaker from Billings, Mont.

Serviceability? It's not a car, or a pick-up truck for that matter.

"If you get a factory hat and it gets dirty, who you gonna call? You can't call Stetson."

Rands Custom Hats services their hats by cleaning and blocking them annually.

"The kind of mileage you get out of your car depends on whose driving it," Rand said. "We have a complete service department."

While the cost of a custom-hat is comparable to a mass-produced Resistol or Stetson - about $500 for 100 percent natural fur - an extra $65 will buy a mold in the shape of the hat buyer's head.

"Once we've made a hat for you, if you are a difficult fit, and you allow us to give you a mold with the hat, your hat thinks your head's in it all the time," he said. "So if your hat gets soaking wet or something happens to it, you can store it on the mold so when it gets dried out you put it back on and it fits properly."

Down the aisle, Debbie Milan was looking at Western wear and doing some holiday shopping.

"This is a big treat," said the massage therapist from Southern California. "It's really exciting."

Milan, who works for Pro Sports, treats the cowboys' aches and pains after they fall off their horses and bulls.

Across the exhibition hall, Scott Oliver from Stillwater, Okla., was fixin' to do a little bit of Christmas shopping, but all he had purchased were shoes, saddle soap and a rodeo planner - for himself.

"There's quite a bit of stuff here from all over the United States," the 27-year-old said. "It's kinda like shopping on the Internet."

The first-time NFR attendee said he is a bull rider, but he wasn't competing this year.

"I'm just here as a fan."