Celebrating Our 50th Year at Cheyenne Frontier Days! 1976-2026

CHEYENNE — For nearly every summer of her life, Barbara Pratt’s journey north to Cheyenne has been a family tradition.

What began with childhood visits to Cheyenne Frontier Days eventually grew into a lifelong business, and this year marks 50 consecutive years of bringing Trader Barb’s Native American jewelry to the “Daddy of ’em All.”

The first trip to Wyoming’s capital city came when Pratt was just 2 years old, perched on her father’s shoulders at CFD. Eight decades later, the annual trip has continued.

Pratt’s jewelry store, Trader Barb’s, began at CFD in 1976 as a modest outdoor setup beside a 40-foot trailer, and evolved into one of Frontier Days’ longest-running jewelry vendors. Trader Barb’s has become as much a tradition as the rodeo itself.

Originally from Chicago, ILL, and now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Pratt has considered Cheyenne a second home for 80 years. She said family ties first brought her to Frontier Days as a child, and those connections eventually grew into something much larger.

“I have a lot of relatives here in Cheyenne,” she said. “... I come up here, it’s like home week.”

That feeling of home has only deepened through the decades.

Pratt said that in the business’s earliest years, unexpected rainstorms often sent fairgoers looking for cover beneath the awning attached to her trailer. This is where small conversations with strangers turned into lasting friendships. Many of those customers still stop by every year, she said, making the annual reunion one of the highlights of Frontier Days.

Pratt’s own journey to the jewelry business began in 1966, when she moved to Albuquerque to teach. While volunteering near Old Town, she discovered the artistry of Native American jewelers and became fascinated by their work, she said.

After the birth of her son in 1970, she left teaching to pursue jewelry full time, first creating custom pieces at her kitchen table before founding Trader Barb’s.

Within a few years, she began working with Native American silversmiths and artisans.

Today, Trader Barb’s carries 36 lines of Native American jewelry, which is the result of partnerships built over more than half a century with Native American artists across New Mexico.

Rather than buying finished pieces alone, Pratt works collaboratively with the artist, she said. She supplies sterling silver and carefully selected stones, then develops original designs with her Navajo silversmiths before they return to their home workshops to make each piece by hand.

She also works with people from the Zuni reservation, which is around 25 minutes outside of Gallup, New Mexico, she said. They specialize in inlay work, which involves setting stones, gems or colored enamel into channels or shallow bezels in gold, silver or platinum to create seamless designs.

“Nobody that I know of in the business employs a (Zuni) to do that,” Pratt said. “So, to get that type of jewelry, I go out there to do the buying. And I spend about ... two weeks out of the year — two days here, three days there.”

To find the right materials, she travels extensively. Every year, she attends the international gem show in Tucson, Arizona, searching for stones that can’t be found locally.

In years past, those trips also stretched across the globe internationally to Bali and Hong Kong.

The hustle is constant, she said, but it never feels like work for her.

Her favorite stones include white buffalo turquoise, spiny oyster shell and Sonora gold turquoise, though she knows every customer is naturally drawn to something different.

“I love everything, but those are the ones I like, myself,” Pratt said. “Everybody has to like something different. Otherwise, we’d all look alike.”

In 1977, Pratt married her late husband, Reid Pratt, and together they spent more than four decades growing Trader Barb’s from a traveling vendor into a well-known gallery in Albuquerque’s historic Old Town while continuing to make Cheyenne Frontier Days a staple for the business each summer.

After Reid’s death in 2021, their son and daughter-in-law joined the business to help continue the family tradition. 

But that sense of family extends far beyond her relatives, Pratt said.

Many of the people who help operate the booth have worked alongside her for decades. Some have been with her for 45 years, others for 25.

Today, the daughters and granddaughters of some of her original employees work alongside their mothers, creating three generations of families who have become part of the Frontier Days tradition.

“They’re all like family,” she said.

The same goes for her customers.

Familiar faces return year after year, stopping by not only to browse Pratt’s jewelry, but to catch up on each other’s lives.

“The people are phenomenal,” Pratt said. “They’re like family. I know so many people here. They come back year after year, and they tell me about their kids. We just talk in general.”

Looking around her booth during this milestone year, Pratt said the passage of time hardly feels real. When asked if she feels like it’s been 50 years, she said, “Not at all.”

As long as she’s able, she has no plans to stop making the trip north each July.

“As long as I’m upright,” Pratt said. “I mean, this is my love. This is not a business. This is my love. I love what I do.”