We are in Dubois, Wyoming and we learned a fun fact about the name “Dubois” and its pronunciation. I assumed the French pronunciation – Dewb-wah. Most visitors do this. But I was corrected by a local in a nearby town when he asked where we were heading for the weekend. It is actually pronounced DEW-boys. They even make stickers for the pronunciation:
The original residents of Dubois wanted to name the town Tibo but the post office said no. Governor Joseph M. Carey decided to name the town after his friend, Fred Dubios, an Idaho senator at the time. Why would a Wyoming town be named after an Idaho senator? The locals decided to reject the French pronunciation in protest.
During the summer, Dubois has Friday night rodeos. After our visit to Cheyenne earlier this summer where we watched team roping, we were eager to see a full rodeo! We decided to soak in the rodeo experience and not take any photos. The little kids sitting on a horse as it walked the course for the barrel racing was my favorite part. And the kids a little older bull riding on calves was really cute, too.
Downtown Dubois is small but it has a lot of cute shops and restaurants. It also has an antler arch like the ones in Jackson, Wyoming:
A little more Dubois history… in December 2014 there was a fire in downtown Dubois. It was -35°F with a windchill of -50°F. Yes, those are negative temperatures! Firefighters had to deal with freezing equipment and they worked all night to get the fire under control. Many businesses burned to the ground.
While we were at the grocery store in Dubois, I happened to see the fire chief’s truck in the parking lot. Did you know that my Dad is now the Fire Chief in his town? I am very proud of him! I told him he needs one of these plates for his truck:
