Thunderstorms, some heavy during the morning hours, then skies turning partly cloudy during the afternoon. High around 85F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..
Tonight
A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
The notion that the Country Stampede is back on the table as a potential local event is a very encouraging development.
Not surprisingly, I’ve heard mixed reactions. Some people would prefer that the Stampede stay away, either out of spite for having left or out of wariness of the noise and mess that comes with a giant music festival just outside of town. Sorta like those who’d rather tell Colorado, “Yeah, thanks, but no.” Colorado left the Big 12 for the Pac-12, just like the Stampede ditched us for the supposedly greener pastures of Topeka. Colorado is now returning.
I can empathize, but that’s short-sighted thinking. We’d be lucky to get the Stampede back. It’s a good fit.
The Stampede brought a lot to Manhattan during its 22-year run at the campgrounds just below Tuttle Creek reservoir. The event ran three or four days, with 30,000 people there every day. It happened in June, at a time when college students are gone, and therefore represented a needed economic shot in the arm every year. The community has tried to make up the difference with, among other things, an all-class reunion for Manhattan High alums. Fun event, good idea, but not even in the same ballpark as a business matter.
Stampede is sort of like adding a home football game in mid-June. It’s big.
Beyond the economic bump, the Stampede was a cultural event that put Manhattan on the map. You could have seen Taylor Swift there. Perhaps you saw Toby Keith. Thinking about the flap over Jason Aldean’s new song? Yeah, he was at Stampede. Chris Stapleton. Charlie Daniels. Hank Williams Jr. And so on.
I want to live in the type of town that attracts a Country Stampede, even if I don’t go. I want to be in a town that has McCain Auditorium, and Fake Patty’s, and a big youth soccer tournament, and a fishing derby, and a drag show, and a big rodeo. The fact that the drag show and the college rodeo every year fall on the same weekend tells you an awful lot about our town. I haven’t gone to either event, but I love the fact that they happen.
Our town is also, as one of my predecessors put it, a village of experts. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, and so the debate about Stampede is good, too. On balance, though, I’d encourage our community’s leaders to do whatever they can to bring it back.
One of the great advantages, and one of the reasons to go after it again, is that we know how to do it right. My guess is that’ll be very attractive to Stampede. Community leaders were also wise, back in 2018, to not dump on the event with a bunch of vindictive statements about leaving. It was an amicable split, not a nasty divorce, and so the concept of remarriage is entirely plausible.
