If you notice your neighbor’s holiday lights are on well after after Christmas Day, it’s not because they’re lazy.

They are taking part in the Colorado tradition of keeping Christmas lights up through the National Western Stock Show in Denver.

The 119th year of National Western Stock Show opens Saturday, Jan. 11, and continues through Sunday, Jan. 26, at the National Western Complex and Denver Coliseum at Interstate 70 and Brighton Boulevard.

A tradition since 1906, the part-rodeo, part-livestock show and part-fair brings hundreds of thousands of people to Colorado each January for a celebration of our state’s agricultural heritage.

National Western Stock Show CEO Paul Andrews said everyone associated with the show participates in this holiday tradition.

While some of the details behind the tradition have been lost in time, the custom of keeping Christmas lights on through the end of the Stock Show dates back to 1922, when Christmas lights were first hung outside the Denver City and County Building.

Denver leaders encouraged residents in the 1940s to continue the tradition of leaving up their Christmas lights to welcome visitors and to keep the city looking festive in January.

“It’s important we show them much love, and the Christmas lights were just one idea to help do that,” Andrews said.

For more on this story, and others, visit The Denver Gazette’s news partner, 9News