A surveillance video shows a white single-cab tractor entering the property without a trailer and each time leaving with one. The driver gained entry by cutting the locked chain securing the gate, Henderson said.

Over Labor Day, three containers mounted on three chassis were taken, holding 10,740 pairs of boots and 7,400 sets of boot uppers worth nearly $2.4 million, Henderson said.

On Nov. 9, two more shipping containers-chassis sets were taken, holding nearly 10,000 pairs of boots worth nearly $800,000, he said. Four of the five shipping container-chassis sets were found abandoned and empty; the fifth is still missing.

Add to that a Sept. 5-7 schedule that includes 33 chuck wagons from eight states, a national roping competition, the best of a century of Western clothes, a parade of horses, a Native American powwow and Western singers, and only the insensitive will feel the past has truly been left behind.

Mary Jane Buerkle, chairwoman of the Dress of the West display, said this is the first time for the show at the Cowboy Symposium.

"It is brand new," she said. "What this is designed to do is to celebrate the history of Western clothing. We have all kinds of clothing, beginning from the early 1900s all the way up to today. It’s going to be a display of different articles that have been worn over the past century.

"We also have stuff from Miss Rodeo America, which is going to be a really fun part of the exhibit. I have seen some pictures of the articles of clothing, and they are really glamorous."

For tickets and more information regarding the event, check out the

National Cowboy Symposium’s website

.

C.L. Myers of Muleshoe said that few have a real need to wear a cowboy hat these days. “It’s just something you wear,” Myers said. “Some wear it to cover up their balding head, I wear it to cover my gray hair.” Myers also said that for those that wear a cowboy hat, it’s one of the basics. “Some put on their underwear, some put on their cowboy hat,” Myers said. “Other people put on both.”

Buzz Goodson, owner Bar G Western Wear in Portales, said cowboy hats were always meant to serve a basic purpose. “They are used to shade you in the summer and warm you in the winter,” he said. He also said that different hats signify a different personality.

How do you wear your cowboy hat? Is it a part of your personality?

Jack A. Weil, founder of a Western wear store whose shirts were favored by movie actors and rock stars, died Wednesday. He was 107.

Weil died at home with his family present, said Steve Weil, his grandson and president of Rockmount Ranch Wear, which his grandfather founded in 1946.

Steve Weil says his grandfather was the first to design Western shirts with snap buttons and also created sawtooth-pattern pockets.

His shirts have been worn by Elvis Presley, Clark Gable, Heath Ledger, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. Rockmount also designed shirts for Colorado’s House delegation for the Democratic National Convention.

Steve Weil says his grandfather remained chief executive officer of Rockmount and went to work daily until his death. He was believed to be the oldest CEO in the world.

[Greeley Chamber of Commerce President Sarah] MacQuiddy, form the Chamber of Commerce, said she thinks the Western lifestyle that is so much a part of Colorado’s tradition also plays a part in making casual the norm in this part of the country, especially during the Greeley Stampede.

"I know businesses, a lot of them, allow employees to wear jeans and Western wear to support the Stampede," she said.

If western wear is your thing, check out some of the cool things that

My Cacties

has to offer. They gave us the distinction of being a “Cowboy Friendly” site, and we think they’re pretty cool too.