The NWC is located along the South Platte River, the traditional territory of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples, and the historic Stockyards in Denver Colorado, where over a hundred years ago, 40,000 head of cattle, sheep and hogs regularly arrived for processing in one of the many meat packing plants surrounding the stockyards. The Stockyards was, from the very beginning, where the city met the country, and visa versa, where ranchers and farmers “came to town” to sell their annual lot of livestock, upon which their annual revenue depended. Over the years, the Stockyards has continued to be a convener of the urban and rural places and communities, led by the National Western Stock Show that happens every January in Denver. Since 1906, born out of the stockyards, the National Western Stock Show has been held to find out who produced the best Steer, heifer, calf, boar, sow, ram or ewe. But as or even more importantly, the Stock Show has continued to be the place where urban meets rural and rural meets urban; where an eager exchange of ideas happens and a connection between the folks who grow the food that feeds us and the folks whose very lives depend on that food, is developed and sustained. This history, and this exchange, is the foundation of the Legacy and Promise of the National Western Center.
Every year, for 16 days, the Stock Show has brought together the very best and brightest in agriculture and livestock, from the ranchers and farmers of Colorado to the animal scientists from Colorado State University, to attendees from every state in US and almost 40 countries around the world. And every year, the folks who eat the food these ranchers and farmers grow, come to the Stock Show to learn about the history of Colorado agriculture and learn something about where their food comes from, and who grows it.
But 16 days a year is a challenging business model, and while the National Western Stock Show has worked mightily for over a hundred years to keep the history of our Western Heritage alive and to be THE place to show your livestock, there are many challenges that come with a 16-day event with year-round expenses. For years the Stock Show and partners at the City of Denver and CSU worked to craft a long-term solution and a forever home for the Stock Show in Denver, and to keep the Stock Show in the heart of the City. Keeping such a large, agriculturally focused, piece of real estate viable in the very center of one of the country’s fastest growing metropolitan areas comes with many challenges. Wouldn’t it be easier to move the Stock Show to a more rural setting? Of course it would. But Denver City leaders, CSU leaders and of course Stock Show leadership were intent on keeping the Stock Show in Denver, for the right reasons.
Armed with a “failure is not an option” mindset, these partners, along with the proud surrounding community members in Globeville, Elyria and Swansea, conceived of the National Western Center, a year-round destination focused on the future of our food, through the lens of education, agriculture, culture and entertainment.
Following the guidance crafted in the National Western Center, adopted by Denver City Council in 2015, the NWC has been working to create a never-before-seen collaboration between a major US City, a land grant University and a Livestock show with historic roots in agriculture, creating a continuum of history and innovation, legacy and promise. What was the innovation of the early 20th century, the stockyards and rail lines built to serve the city and the yards is an important part of the history that we celebrate today. What was the innovation of genetics and breeding that helped CSU win the first few stock shows in the early 1900s has evolved into the cutting-edge innovation of CSU’s animal health, veterinarian science, water science and soil health research and discoveries happening on the very same patch of prairie along the South Platte River, just northeast of Downtown Denver.
Isn’t this hard to do? It is, but it’s worth it, in fact our very future depends on it. How do we create a one-of-a-kind collaboration of expertise and experience to realize the goal of convening the world in the pursuit of sustainable agriculture to feed 10 billion people in the year 2050? Yes, it’s hard to convene differing ways of life, economies, cultures and priorities. But, from this, and the ongoing “failure is not an option” mentality, solutions emerge that are truly wholes much greater than the sum of their parts. This has been true for over a hundred years, and it’s never been truer and more important than today. I suspect that no matter what year you’re reading this, it will still be true. Each passing year, the NWC guiding principle of connecting the urban and rural place becomes more relevant and important. As cities grow and expand, they become more separated from rural places, and as consumers have less relationship and connection with where their food comes from and who produces it, our world becomes, counter-intuitively, smaller. Cities become more insular in their thinking, rural communities feel separated and isolated from the urban place and our urban and rural histories, culture and our very ways of life, become unfamiliar and misunderstood by each other.
But there is hope. Just as the National Western Stock Show brought the city and country together for a respectful exchange of innovation and culture every January, the National Western Center is working to make this a year-round experience. Working with partners at the City and County of Denver, CSU and the National Western Stock Show, and communities surrounding the NWC, the National Western Center is working to create a year-round destination focused on the future of food through education, agriculture and entertainment. We will do this through the research and collaboration happening at CSU Spur Campus on the National Western Center, through Spur’s Vida Building, focused on animal and human health, and through Spur’s Terra and Hydro facilities, focused on agriculture and water, respectively. We will do this by providing the forever home for the National Western Stock Show and their world-renowned stock show and rodeo and their nationwide education efforts and initiatives. We will do this through partnerships and collaborations with the City and County of Denver and its residents and the surrounding communities, both neighbors today and neighbors who walked this land many, many generations ago.
But we can’t succeed without the most critically important ingredient; you! Come challenge yourself to innovate and create and explore our history and our future at the New National Western Center, Denver’s new Center of experience, learning, sustainability, culture and flavor. This is an open invitation to every rancher, farmer, city dweller, suburban dweller, in fact all of us, working together, sharing and innovation to solve the most pressing issues and opportunities facing our cities, states, countries and our planet today. Come join us at the National Western Center.
Internet Explorer versions 8 and 7 are currently not supported by this website.