Lakewood aims to herd stock show into Rooney Valley
The Rooney Valley stretches southward from Green Mountain.
LAKEWOOD – The National Western Stock Show is looking for a new home and the Rooney Valley is a prime candidate.
Stock show officials and the city’s Director of Planning confirmed Tuesday the two sides met a couple of weeks ago for preliminary discussion of relocating the 103-year-old stock show to the valley.
“We think it is a long-shot, and if it happens, it probably won’t happen for a little while but we thought we would pursue it and see where we go,” said Becky Clark, Lakewood’s Director of Community Planning and Development.
“It is something that we would have to work out with Denver, because, of course they (the National Western) bring revenue to Denver. And it’s something that we would have to work out with all the property owners out there in Rooney Valley,” Clark said.
The idea sprang from a land planning challenge last year.
The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties each year conducts a contest in which local college students design a land-use plan to fit an actual site.
The 2009 site was the Rooney Valley.
An Intergovernmental Agreement guides development of the valley and control of its broad reaches along C-470 from West Alameda Avenue to Morrison Road are split between Lakewood and the City of Morrison.
It is the site of SolTerra, a pricey subdivision that was the site of the 200? Parade of Homes.
The National Western two years ago announced it is considering moving from its aging Stock Yards facilities on either side of Interstate 70 in east Denver. Pat Grant, the stock show’s President and Chief Executive Offer said the current site is too cramped to allow for expansion of the show’s facilities.
“It’s going to be hard for us to stay here, but we’ve not made that final decision,” Grant said. “We’re reviewing all our options including sites outside of Denver.”
The Rooney Valley has been discussed as a “possible” site, Grant said. “But I’m not in a position to go beyond that.”
Talks on relocating the stock show to a site in Commerce City, recently “blew up,” Grant said.
The stock show draws thousands of participants from across the U.S. and several foreign countries. More than 600,000 visitors have attended the show each year for the past 12 years. The record, 726,972, was posted in 2006.
Its economic impact has been estimated at more than $85 million during the show and rodeo’s 16-day annual run.
