National Western Stock Show Citizen of the West
Client
National Western Stock Show and Rodeo
Venue
CoBank Arena in Denver, Colorado
Event Type
Scholarship Fundraiser and Recognition Event
Services
Video (cameras, graphics, and playback), Projection, Site Distribution, plus Static and Motion Graphic Design
Our longest-running client is a nonprofit.
About the Event
Encompass has supported National Western’s Citizen of the West since 1990. The annual event recognizes leaders whose service reflects Colorado’s western heritage while raising support for college and graduate-level scholarships in agriculture, veterinary medicine, and rural medicine.
In 2026, approximately 1,000 agricultural leaders, regional businesses, donors, elected officials, and scholarship recipients gathered at CoBank Arena to honor George Eidsness as the 47th Citizen of the West. It was the event’s first year in the new arena, and another evolution of a program Encompass has supported for more than 35 years.
Encompass Insights
A new arena required a new technical plan. We had three hours to turn a livestock auction arena into a space ready to host 1,000 guests, with setup, rehearsal, show, and strike all within the same ten-hour production window.
PRG’s semi-permanent concert audio and lighting system was already in place, so we focused on video, graphics, and how content would be seen throughout the arena. Two 13-by-24-foot rear-projection screens, powered by Barco UDM-4K30 projectors, handled the main presentation. Rather than adding separate delay screens, we lowered the center-hung LED display to 20 feet above the arena floor. Guests could see it as soon as they entered from the concourse, and it stayed visible throughout the room.
The venue may have changed completely, but the event didn’t need to feel unfamiliar. Static and motion graphics carried the established Citizen of the West presentation into the new arena, while the video system made use of the space CoBank Arena provided. The approach was different, but it still needed to feel like the same event Encompass has supported for more than 35 years.