Children gain exposure to the Old West during rodeo weekend

“They do leather tooling, make pinwheels and wind ribbons.” (Photo by Michael Newman/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

BAGGS, Wyo. — Arguably one of the best ways kids can learn is through play.

Close to 100 children spent time learning, while playing during the Snake River Lion’s Club Rodeo behind the grandstands. Little Snake River Museum Director Lela Emmons spent much of the weekend teaching the kids about the western lifestyle at the old-time cowboy camp.

Emmons could be seen earlier this month showing Valeria and Anthony Banda how to make imprints on leather and interact with others while they practiced their shaving skills with a fake straight razor.

“They do leather tooling, make pinwheels and wind ribbons,” Emmons said of the camp activities. “They get to rope from their barrel horse and get a prize if they rope their steer.”

Throughout the day, Ashton Jeannerett could be seen running between the stands and the tent, periodically trying on a vest, a coat, a gun belt and other clothing items in front of a mirror. Shortly before the end of the rodeo events, Jeannerett said dressing up made him feel like he was in the Old West.

“I like it because you can take pictures when it’s like the olden days,” Jeannerett said. “It’s not like these new clothes and these new shoes, hats and things. You get to wear a cowboy hat and you get to put on wigs.”

Jeannerett added the camp was a good break from the rodeo and a way of cooling off.

In addition to staff providing individuals snow cones, many of the kids cooled off by dunking their heads in a large bucket of water.

Samantha Hardzog, taking a break from the action of the arena with her daughters, said she too was a fan of the dress-up station. Hardzog said not all kids enjoy rodeos and felt such activities could help kids, such as her own, grow during the summer.

“All they want to do is watch TV and play in the pool,” Hardzog said. “There’s not a lot going on that (provides) education opportunities, so it is very beneficial that they get to play, and at the same time they are learning.”

The museum staff set up the tent prior to the rodeo for the sixth year and started taking things down after the final rodeo events. Emmons said the tent was intended to give kids who didn’t enjoy the rodeo a place to hang out, as well as a way for the museum to reach out to the community.

“Everybody in the community has pretty much seen the museum,” Emmons said. “We thought it was a good way to bring the museum to the community.”