The first of four scheduled Cheyenne Frontier Days Grand Parades for 2021 is scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m. in downtown Cheyenne.

The parade will follow the usual downtown Cheyenne Parade route (see below).

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Additional parades are scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday,  and Saturday of Frontier Days week, all at 9 a.m. and following the same route.

While this year's parade has yet to be seen, it typically includes marching bands, floats (often following a western or historical theme), local and state politicians (often in cowboy clothes and on horseback), Native American dancers and cultural displays, horse-drawn wagons and other demonstrations of cowboy culture and/or western history.

While estimating the number of parade viewers can be a challenge, it's probably safe to say that several thousand people typically line the streets to see the parade, with some people showing up two or even three hours before the parade starts to be assured of getting a good spot to watch the procession.

The first CFD "parades" were mostly wild and woolly gallops through town by rowdy cowboys on wild broncos rather than the organized, well-planned processions enjoyed by modern spectators (according to the Cheyenne Frontier Days website).

The cowboys often used windows for target practice and introduced themselves to pretty girls by lassoing them. The only early exceptions were a parade in 1898 honoring Buffalo Bill and a 1910 event for President Theodore Roosevelt.

But, in 1925 a pageant around the theme of 'The Evolution of Transportation'' was organized. The following year, the first-ever parade featuring floats that would last was launched, according to the website.

The parades have been a CFD tradition ever since, alternating mornings with the Free Pancake Breakfast at the Cheyenne Depot Plaza.

Saturday's parade will continue the tradition for 2021 along the route shown below.

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