Put on your best cowboy hat and denims — it’s time for the Pikes Peak Rodeo’s 52nd annual Street Breakfast.The event, 5:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Wednesday at the corner of Pikes Peak Avenue and Tejon Street, is to promote the 72nd annual Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo, which will be in town July 11 – 14. Fort Carson volunteers will be up at 2 a.m. preparing the food for the breakfast, which is sponsored by the Pikes Peak Range Riders, Colorado Springs, the Pikes Peak Sertoma Club and Fort Carson. More than 5,000 people are expected gobble up more than 1,500 pounds of eggs and 1,100 pounds of pancakes, all washed down with coffee, milk and juice.There will be live music from The Durango Drifters, a local country band, so bring your family along and settle in for a morning that harkens back to the Springs’ past.  The Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo Girl of the West, her aide, and the El Paso County Fair Queen will all be at the event.The Street Breakfast will feature activities for children as well as the food and entertainment.Breakfast is free to children five and under and $5 for everyone else, with all funds going to military families. Tickets can be purchased at the breakfast.Be sure to stick around until the end — the 64th annual Pikes Peak Range Ride sets out from the breakfast at 8 a.m. with 155 riders. They will head to the Norris Penrose Equestrian Center and then on to a five day camping trip by Tarryall Reservoir to promote the rodeo and to honor the area’s Western heritage.The Range Riders’ full route through the city can be found on their website at www.pikespeakrangeriders.net, for those who want to watch them ride out.Get up early Wednesday so you get downtown in time to claim a hay bale seat for a hearty breakfast and a taste of rodeo spirit.—Contact Lauren Fellers: 636-0198.

Photo by Gazette file