Ask longtime Cheyenne Frontier Days (CFD) volunteers Liz Escobedo and Bob Weaver what the best thing about CFD is and they'll tell you it's "the volunteers."

"There isn't anything else that you can say," said Escobedo. "To think people come back year after year and they come from all over, from Florida, from Texas, to work."

"They take their vacations and come here," said Weaver.

The two may be a bit biased, but with nearly 100 years of combined service between them, they know firsthand that volunteers are the backbone of CFD.

"Without the volunteers this wouldn't exist," said Weaver.

"2,500 volunteers," said Escobedo. "I don't think any place else in the world has that many volunteers."

Escobedo, who celebrated her 90th birthday on July 14, has been a CFD volunteer for nearly 50 years and has served on the CFD Public Relations Committee since it's inception in 1974.

"It's been interesting," said Escobedo. "I've done everything from cleaning the PR trailer to answering the phone in the afternoon when they gave the headquarters people some time off."

"When I was nominated for the Hall of Fame at the museum they asked me for a bio," added Escobedo. "I handed this bio to Kristin (Custis) and it said 'I did the job I was assigned' and that was it."

Weaver, who's been on the CFD Tickets Committee for 49 years now, was stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base when he started volunteering.

"Heck at the time I was the only black guy on the park," said Weaver. "I was the first black in the Heels and now I'm the Leather Heel, or the President of Heels. Liz was the first female Heel and so we go back."

While many things have changed in the time the two have been volunteering, they say one of the biggest changes on the park has been the stands.

"The old stands were all wooden and it was a big fire hazard," said Weaver. "Everything should have burned down a long time ago."

"It's amazing to see what's happened," said Escobedo. "At the sponsor tent where I am, I know so many people that come through there and they all give me hugs. I gather up all my hugs at Frontier Days for the whole year now."

Joy Greenwald, Townsquare Media
Joy Greenwald, Townsquare Media
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