To sense the aura of a rodeo, take in its aroma

Next time you go to a Pikes Peak Rodeo or Bust Parade, take a whiff.

The 69th annual parade, which kicked off the Rodeo Days at the Norris-Penrose Events Center Tuesday afternoon, carried the scent of asphalt burning in 80-degrees; sweat from crowd stretched over a mile in lawn chairs along Tejon Street; feces from horses, piled like pellets.

Everybody seemed to enjoy it.

"I see a lot of happy kids just excited to be here," Mayor Lionel Rivera said. "In adults, I see an appreciation our tradition of rodeo."

There was a hint of sandwiches and popcorn in an icebox near Platte Avenue, where Tom Palm, 32, knelt beside his 6-year-old boy,

Braeden Palm, and his 60-year-old mother, Diane Palm. He laid two blankets over the sidewalk, waiting an hour before the show. Tom's been here two decades now, since Mom brought him as a child.

"It's a part of our lives," Diane said.

A fragrance of cologne came from marching police officers and military cavalry - the parade itself benefits military charities. Officer Shawn Peterson, 37, marched with the color guard. Because police are part of the community too, he said.

A livestock pageant on the street - long-eared mules, longhorns and steeds. Cigarettes fumes and alcohol outside bars. Pizza and pastry.

Mist from three street cleaners that sweep manure.

Smell that?

"This is our Western heritage and military tradition all rolled into one," Rivera said.
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Contact the writer at 636-0372.