DENVER (KDVR) — The National Western Stock Show will return to Denver from Jan. 8-23, 2022, following a COVID cancellation for the 2021 show.

The 2022 stock show, one of the nation’s largest will feature a newly built, 46,000 square foot facility: the HW Hutchison Family Stockyards Event Center. It will also host the annual National Anthem Contest.

Stock Show President Paul Andrews said the decision to postpone the 2021 show was difficult, but necessary.

“It was a painful decision, but the right decision — the responsible decision,” Andrews said.

Officials originally postponed the 2021 event in September, saying at the time they simply had no choice in the face of Denver’s pandemic safety guidelines.

Andrews said they once again consulted with the mayor’s office and with state leaders before deciding to move forward with the show in January 2022.

He expects the event could bring triple the economic impact of the MLB All-Star Game.

“The National Western every year is over 100 million (dollars) in economic impact,” Andrews said. “People sleeping here, eating here, drinking here, filling up their gas here. So it all comes back to the great state of Colorado.”

For much of the pandemic in 2020, the city used the stock show grounds as a makeshift homeless shelter.

Todd Langfield and the SSA Group normally handle concessions for the stock show. Instead, the company found themselves providing food for people experiencing homelessness inside the center.

“We love to serve food to people, and it’s a little bit different than the cowboys in January. But we’re just really happy to be a part of that, and be able to help find a place for people to get a meal and a place to stay,” Langfield said.

Langfield said the return of the stock show will means hundreds of additional jobs for the area.

Tickets to the 2022 National Western Stock Show go on sale on Sept. 18, 2021