My husband and I enjoyed going to the annual National Western Stock Show Parade in Denver in early January --read that post here--and we decided to take another trip into Denver last week to visit the stock show grounds on the free admission day. We visited the stockyards before, years ago--click here to read that post--and we were excited to see the new construction that we had heard about being in progress. The construction consists of more than 2.2 million square feet of new indoor and outdoor spaces is underway, designed to host innovation and research labs, farmers markets, international conferences, outdoor festivals, and everything in between.
Information about the new buildings from the National Western Center website:
"The National Western Center will be a year-round, global destination for agricultural innovation, western heritage, and culture. People worldwide will convene at the National Western Center and online to lead, inspire, create, educate, and entertain in pursuit of global food solutions. The National Western Center will be the future home of the National Western Stock Show and exploratory learning opportunities through CSU. The National Western Center Authority is the nonprofit that will operate the campus; its offices are located at 4701 Marion St., Denver."
CSU Spur is always free and is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. every day during the National Western Stock Show (Jan. 6-21, 2024) for dog and cat surgeries, rooftop greenhouses, interactive exhibits, and special demonstrations. There was so much to see and do there--we know we will return again to do more.
We also added some girth to our waistlines by having a delicious barbecue lunch at one of the food vendors at the event center! I had brisket with coleslaw and a broccoli salad, and my husband had a sausage and ribs platter with beans and potato salad. It was all delicious!
"The National Western Center will be a year-round, global destination for agricultural innovation, western heritage, and culture. People worldwide will convene at the National Western Center and online to lead, inspire, create, educate, and entertain in pursuit of global food solutions. The National Western Center will be the future home of the National Western Stock Show and exploratory learning opportunities through CSU. The National Western Center Authority is the nonprofit that will operate the campus; its offices are located at 4701 Marion St., Denver."
The signs on the construction fences gave more information and some photos of what the buildings would look like.
Construction is expected to be completed by late 2025 or early 2026.
From what we could see the new buildings will be amazing amenities to the city of Denver!
We walked around to see some of the remaining outdoor stock pens...
...and we watched a few of the bull demonstrations and auctions.
We then walked over to see the two new Colorado State University -CSU- buildings called CSU SPUR. CSU Spur hosts programming from many partners — including the Dumb Friends League, Denver Water, the Temple Grandin Equine Center, and the CSU College of Agriculture. It is home to real science and research and has laboratories, a veterinary clinic, a market, a museum, an art studio, classrooms, a garden, and an innovation center.
You can watch a YouTube video at this link to see more about what wonderful things are happening in these buildings.
We then went inside the Stockyards Event Center where there were hundreds of vendor booths selling a multitude of goods and services during the stock show days.
There were also indoor stock pens inside the event center with animals from A --Alpaca on the right--to Z-- Zebu on the left.
I was amazed to see the girth of these two well-fed bulls!
We enjoyed our day out and look forward to many more visits in the future at the new National Western Complex. It really has made Denver remain the premier center of the West!
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