Virgil Holtgrewe, 90, has been volunteering for the National Western Stock Show since before the volunteer program began. For 45 years straight, he has spent 16 days each January escorting livestock judges, taking tickets, leading tour groups and much, much more.

But this year, the COVID-19 pandemic brought his tradition to a screeching halt.

For the first time since 1915, the National Western Stock Show was canceled in 2021, opting for virtual celebrations instead and leaving the Stock Show’s 800 volunteers without much to do.

“I’m lost, I’m bored,” Holtgrewe said. “January is going to be a boring month.”

Holtgrewe fell in love with the Stock Show in 1970 after attending for the first time as a member of the Denver Agriculture and Livestock Club. Soon after, he began volunteering, working dozens of jobs over the decades to help the show run smoothly.

As a retired worker in farm management, born and raised on a farm in southeast Nebraska, the Stock Show has provided Holtgrewe with a community within agriculture and livestock.

“It’s really brought me together with a lot of different people in the volunteer program as well as in the Stock Show itself,” Holtgrewe said. “Those things mean a lot.”

In the midst of a global pandemic that has forced many to isolate themselves, it is this sense of community that many volunteers miss the most.

Husband and wife Nancy and Rick Hammans were both raised going to the Stock Show every year. When Nancy retired in 2005, the couple decided to start volunteering for the event that had brought them so much happiness.

Rick, 64, volunteers with the children showing livestock during the Stock Show and Nancy, 69, works year-round on the volunteer committee.

“It’s been absolutely, phenomenally wonderful. I look forward to it every year,” Nancy said. “I miss it terribly. It feels like January’s not right.”

“We’ve lost a lot this year and it’s just another thing,” Rick said. “It’s a loss but that’s just the reality of now.”

Both retired school teachers, the Hammans use the Stock Show to reconnect with their former students and families, who they frequently run into during the show.

Having moved to the city as a child, Rick also relies on the Stock Show to stay involved in Colorado’s agricultural industry.

“I’m afraid a lot of people have lost touch with it,” Rick said. “Every year I meet people that come (to the Stock Show) for the first time and are shocked and wish they had known about it earlier.”

In addition to bringing Colorado communities together, Nancy said the Stock Show often is important for uniting individual families.

“It’s been a real loss for families because it’s a family event that brings everyone in to have something they can all enjoy,” Nancy said. “It’s very hard on a lot of people.”

Josh Bobb’s family is one that has been most struck by the Stock Show’s absence. Bobb has volunteered at the Stock Show with his brother and both of his parents since he was a senior in high school.

As a child, Bobb and his family would attend the Stock Show every year as a way for his Nebraska-native parents to teach their children about Colorado’s agricultural history.

“We’ve taken what used to be just an annual trip to now all volunteering together,” Bobb, now 42, said. “It brings us all together. It takes us out of our busy lives. And with COVID, that’s a big thing that I miss.”

Over 24 shows, Bobb has worked in the horse barns, helping to run specialty acts like the Night of the Dancing Horses and the Wild West Show.

Now with a wife and children of his own, Bobb and his sons attend the Stock Show together annually. Bobb said his 14-year-old son intends to start volunteering himself once he’s old enough.

“I love it. I can’t wait for the day when I’m 65, 70 years old and still able to volunteer,” Bobb said. “I think I’ll be one of the longest-running volunteers.”

Also a volunteer firefighter at the South Adams County Fire Department, Bobb has been putting in extra hours to make up for his unusual amount of free time this month.

But Bobb’s heart lies with the Stock Show, calling it an opportunity for Coloradans to return to their roots and understand the importance of the state’s agriculture industry. He said volunteering for the Stock Show is a way to give back to the community.

“For me, the reward is getting to go back and see the people that I’ve been volunteering with over the years and helping people understand our heritage,” Bobb said. “I don’t know a January without National Western.”

The National Western Stock Show has served as a unifying event for Coloradans since its inception.

Over his more than four decades of service for the show, Holtgrewe said one moment stands out to him the most.

It was in the early 2000s, recently after 9/11. Holtgrewe, then chairman of the volunteer committee, was escorting a group of soldiers from the Fort Carson military base around the Stock Show. Holtgrewe brought the soldiers to a Night of the Dancing Horses performance.

At the end of the performance, the announcer declared there would be a special surprise. The Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra then began to play the service song and 30 wounded soldiers from Fort Carson walked into the arena.

All at once, the crowd erupted into cheers and tears, celebrating together as a community.

“It was a wonderful, wonderful experience,” Holtgrewe said.