When a visitor to the Estes Park Wool Market asked whether the Rooftop Rodeo takes place on an actual roof, Cindy Schonholtz had an answer ready.
“No, that would be dangerous,” Schonholtz said.
The name is easier to remember than to explain. It dates to the 1940s, when Estes Park’s rodeo was promoted as a rodeo with altitude, staged at 7,522 feet above sea level. It may not be the highest rodeo in the country — that honor goes to the Cripple Creek Gold Rush Rodeo at 9,640 feet — but it is still one of Estes Park’s most recognizable summer traditions.
“It is goofy. It’s a weird name, but people remember it, right?” Schonholtz said. “You can’t change it. You have to keep the history while modernizing and changing with the times with professional rodeo.”
That balance between history and change will shape the 2026 Rooftop Rodeo, which runs July 6-11 at the Estes Park Rodeo Grounds. According to Estes Park historian Howell F. Wright’s book “The Rodeo with Altitude: The History of Estes Park Rooftop Rodeo,” this year’s event is the 98th Rooftop Rodeo, which puts the town two years away from celebrating its centennial.
Schonholtz, who is in her fourth year as Rooftop Rodeo coordinator, sees the rodeo as an integral part of Estes Park’s identity.
“The Rooftop Rodeo is an important part of preserving the Estes Valley’s Western heritage, which might be getting a little bit lost with the people moving in,” Schonholtz said. “There’s a lot of arts, some culture, and all of that stuff now, but we want to make sure that the culture of the cowboy is in that conversation.”
Schonholtz works as an independent contractor for the town of Estes Park, with the rodeo organized through the town’s events office. Before coming to the Rooftop Rodeo, she spent 20 years with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and ran the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. She had visited the Rooftop Rodeo years before taking on the job.
“I have pictures from 2016 on my phone from when I was here, so it’s definitely not my first rodeo,” Schonholtz said.
Rodeo in Estes Park stretches back more than a century, though the early events did not look exactly like the sport audiences will see today. Local records point to a 1908 Fourth of July “Frontier Day” celebration that included bronco busting, roping, branding, steer riding, and other Wild West exhibition events. The term “rodeo” was not commonly used in the United States until several years later, and Estes Park’s early celebrations were closer to community pageantry than formal competition.
Schonholtz said that distinction matters.
“It didn’t have all the events that we have today,” she said. “A rodeo generally has six or seven events, including rough stock, bareback, saddle riding, and bull riding, and then the timed events, like tie-down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, and barrel racing — they didn’t have all that back then.”
The transition, she said, came as rodeo became less of a show and more of a sport.
“When it really becomes a rodeo is when it has all of the events, timed events, and rough stock events; it’s judged; people enter it, and there are winners and that type of thing,” Schonholtz said. “It’s more of a sport now.”
This year’s rodeo is firmly in that modern era. Schonholtz said the event has 817 entries from cowboys and cowgirls, not including drill teams, the stock contractor, and other people who help produce the rodeo. When those groups are included, she estimates more than 900 participants and rodeo workers will be involved.
A Placer.ai report estimated 16,000 unique visitors to the fairgrounds last year, she said. The event also has a larger competitive profile this year as part of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association playoff series, which can help contestants chasing national standings.
“The game of rodeo now is total payoff,” Schonholtz said. “That’s what you want: a high total payoff, and that puts you in a ranking system.”
The timing matters, too. Rooftop Rodeo falls near the end of what contestants call “Cowboy Christmas,” the busy stretch around the Fourth of July when dozens of rodeos happen across the country and competitors may enter multiple rodeos in a day.
“Cowboy Christmas is this period where about 60 rodeos take place over about two weeks,” Schonholtz said. “There’s so much money to be won during this time, so that’s why the cowboys call it that.”
The national schedule can make it difficult to attract contestants, especially with high fuel costs, but Schonholtz said Estes Park remains in a strong position.
“I was happy that we have a lot of world champions and a lot of great entries,” she said. “817 entries is really good.”
Behind the scenes, rodeo week begins well before the first bull rider nods for the gate. Volunteers and staff begin work in late June, putting up banners, cleaning offices, setting livestock panels, and preparing the grounds. After the Fourth of July Big Bang Concert at the fairgrounds, the stage comes out of the arena, livestock begins to arrive, and the team turns its attention to one of the most important parts of the rodeo: the dirt.
“Everything revolves around the dirt, and it’s new dirt,” Schonholtz said. “They just put that in. We’re pretty well known for having good ground. It’s hard to have ground that everybody likes in the rodeo. The stock contractor likes different ground for his bucking horses than the barrel racers like, so it’s always a compromise.”
The operation depends on about 120 volunteers broken into roughly 20 teams, with leaders handling everything from Mutton Bustin to the arena. Schonholtz said about 30 people help lead the overall effort, while volunteers serve as the “boots on the ground.”
The public portion of rodeo week begins at 10 a.m. Monday, July 6, with the Rooftop Rodeo Parade in downtown Estes Park. Schonholtz said the parade already has about 50 entries.
“We normally don’t have the parade on the first day, but I didn’t see any way around it,” Schonholtz said. “It’s nice because it’s a good way to kick it off.”
After the parade, the day continues with a Queens Lunch for visiting rodeo royalty, followed by a production meeting with the announcer, stock contractor, photographers, and other key personnel before the gates open at 5 p.m., preshow entertainment at 6:45 p.m., and the first rodeo performance at 7 p.m.
“Every day’s a little different,” Schonholtz said. “On Tuesday, we have the stick-horse rodeo downtown. On Wednesday, we have timed event slack. Thursday, the royalty is going to ride a cart for an adventure. And then Friday and Saturday, we just survive.”
Each night has a theme. Monday is Family Night, with discounted children’s tickets. Tuesday is First Responders Night. Wednesday is Locals Night, which Schonholtz said has a reputation for being especially lively.
“Wednesday night is local night, and not only do we generally sell that out, but it’s pretty rowdy,” she said. “It was more rowdy than Saturday night last year. It was fun.”
Thursday is Military Appreciation Night, Friday is Paint Estes Pink in support of breast cancer awareness and research, and Saturday will commemorate America 250 and Colorado 150, marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the 150th anniversary of Colorado’s statehood.
For many people in the stands, Rooftop Rodeo may be their first rodeo.
“You know, I figure 70 percent of these people will probably have never even been to a rodeo,” Schonholtz said. “It’s a really different crowd.”
That creates a challenge for organizers. The rodeo needs to meet the expectations of serious fans and contestants while also welcoming families, tourists, and locals who may not know the difference between saddle bronc riding and bareback riding.
“We’re trying to put on a top-notch professional rodeo that’s being live-streamed on the Cowboy Channel, so people across the world are watching,” Schonholtz said. “So we want it to be a good show, but then we got people in the audience that don’t know anything about rodeo, so our announcer and everybody are trying to entertain them and kind of demystify the sport of rodeo.”
That is part of the reason the rodeo offers behind-the-scenes tours when gates open. Those tours help explain the livestock, chutes, equipment, flank straps, and roles of the people in the arena. They also give families a reason to arrive early, park, eat, and settle in before the rodeo begins.
The 2026 rodeo will also feature PRCA barrelman and rodeo clown Justin Rumford, one of the most decorated rodeo clowns in the business, and announcer Andy Seiler, who has called the Rooftop Rodeo “an event that people circle on their calendars.”
The goal, Schonholtz said, is to keep the performances tight, accessible, and entertaining, generally around two hours and 15 minutes. The rodeo is also meant to be affordable. The parade is free, the Kids Stickhorse Rodeo at Bond Park is free, parking options include free lots, and several theme nights include discounted tickets.
“That’s one reason why this is an important thing for the town,” Schonholtz said. “It’s just another aspect of entertainment that gets people here. They always have something different to do every night. “You can come during rodeo week, and it’s not a ton of money, and it’s helping to keep the cowboy culture alive in Estes.