CHEYENNE (WNE) – World champion bareback rider Chris LeDoux made another good ride at Cheyenne Frontier Days — only this time it was with the help of an 18-wheeler and a crane. 

A new, larger-than-life bronze statue of the Wyoming rodeo cowboy and country music star arrived at the park June 22.

Sculptor D. Michael Thomas of Buffalo was on hand to help guide the 12.5-foot-tall, 17-foot-long statue as a crane operator slowly lifted it from the truck to its newly constructed pedestal at the southwest corner of Frontier Park. 

The statue is visible from Interstate 25 and will greet Park and Ride passengers as they get off the bus at the new drop-off location near Hynds Boulevard just south of the large CFD sign. 

This year’s celebration will be held in honor of LeDoux because of his ties to the event. 

“It was a pretty obvious decision that we would dedicate the entire 125th to Chris LeDoux, one of our hometown heroes,” said Cheyenne Frontier Days General Chairman Jimmy Dean Siler. “Here’s an individual who grew up here in Cheyenne and stayed within Wyoming. He became a world champ bareback rider and became one of the top names in entertainment in the country music industry. He kind of covers everything that is about Cheyenne Frontier Days.”

Thomas’ statue depicts LeDoux wearing a CFD contestant number 125 on his back as he rides a bucking horse — a nod to the event’s 125th anniversary.