TEN SLEEP – It’s the Fourth of July, and thousands of people dressed in red, white and blue wait along the road in the late morning light for the parade to begin. Locals and visitors have staked out curbside spots using blankets and lawn chairs. Volunteers hand out star-spangled balloons to kiddos eager for candy and firetrucks, while the smell of food trucks parked down the street wafts through the air.
A bulldog in a cowboy hat and handkerchief slurps water from a silver bowl outside the town’s saloon. The bartender, stepping outside to get a peek at the crowd, says she’s never seen such a great parade-day turnout. Independence Day is the busiest this northern Wyoming town of about 250 residents gets all year.
Most visitors aren’t far from home, making the drive from other Bighorn Basin communities. They come for the parade, and stay for the rodeo. The parade’s route spans the half mile that encompasses most of Ten Sleep’s main drag.
But with such a concentration of voters, it’s a popular stop for political candidates during election years. A little after 10 a.m.
, the Washakie County Sheriff’s Office kicks off the procession of rodeo queens, men on saddled horses, classic cars, a chuckwagon, bicycles and floats representing ranches, churches and local businesses. A county commissioner is the first political candidate to make an appearance. And then, from behind the wheel wearing cowboy boots, blue jeans and a plaid button-up, comes the local boy made good.
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