Donor Spotlight | Bev & Bruce Wagner

Bruce Wagner has long since made a name for himself around the National Western. As a refresher, Bruce is the chair of the Junior Livestock Auction, the treasurer of the Western Stock Show Association’s board of directors, and a member of its Capital Campaign Committee. Well, his name – as well as that of his wife Bev and family – will soon grace the West Plaza just outside the new HW Hutchison Family Stockyards Event Center.

The Bruce and Bev Wagner Family West Plaza will compass a full acre of open plaza space directly outside the Stockyards Event Center. It will be anchored by the historic water tower and have landscaping and seating areas around the edges. The plaza will have direct access onto future catwalks featuring views over the entire Stockyards site and out to the mountains. Power and water spaced throughout the plaza will make this space usable during the Stock Show for the Herd Sire Show and the Stock Dog Competition, and for a variety of other uses year-round such as farmers’ markets and concerts.

Bruce and his family’s decision to support the National Western Center came from the head as well as the heart.

“We have the best livestock show in the nation, and it didn’t take a genius to see that, with our shows and events, if we had a world-class facility, lord only knows where we could go with it,” Bruce said. “I’ve been behind building a new facility since the idea’s inception.”

Just as importantly, Bruce says, the National Western exemplifies the West’s greatest qualities.

“It’s easy to put your money behind people who live and die by the ethics, morals, and hard work that is represented by the West and an organization like ours,” he said.