National and State Register

Head Lettuce Day/Collegiate Peak Stampede Rodeo Grounds

Chaffee County

The Head Lettuce Day/Collegiate Peaks Stampede Rodeo Grounds is the site of Buena Vista’s annual rodeo, an important local and regional sporting and entertainment event and celebration recognizing the area’s ranching roots.

Head Lettuce Day/Collegiate Peak Stampede Rodeo Grounds spectator stand.

Head Lettuce Day/Collegiate Peak Stampede Rodeo Grounds spectator stand.

The grounds are the result of a 1940 project by the Work Projects Administration to provide work for the unemployed during the Great Depression.  The site is an example of an early twentieth-century rodeo grounds planned and constructed by the WPA and featuring a WPA Rustic grandstand, a half-mile racetrack, and corrals.