The effort to create the National Western Center just got a $10 million boost. Cille and Ron Williams' gift will help build four new facilities in the nearly billion dollar project to upgrade the National Western Complex. One of the new facilities-the Yards-will be named in honor of the Williams'. Ron Williams is the former president and C-E-O of Gary-Williams Energy Corporation.
Williams’s connection to the National Western Stock Show reach back more than a half century, to when he was a high school student in Nebraska. “My friends and I used to skip school for the Stock Show,” Williams said. “I haven’t missed one since—and it’s been more than 50 years now. I view this as an investment to keep the Stock Show a rewarding destination for another 50 years or longer.”
Added Cille Williams, “We’re both passionate about Western heritage, traditions and culture, and couldn’t be more excited about what the new National Western Center embodies for Denver, the region and beyond.”
The Ron and Cille Williams Yards will represent a major upgrade from the current yards. Rather than today’s fixed pens, the new Yards’ nearly 800 pens will be defined by removable fencing, and the hard surface will make it convertible into space for concerts, events, festivals, or parking for 2,700 vehicles. The Ron and Cille Williams Yards will also include two, 1,000-seat arenas, elevated walkways (including the historic catwalk so familiar to Stock Show visitors) and a 3.8-acre plaza for outdoor displays, vendor booths and exhibits.