Rodeos of Yesterday

When you remember rodeos, just how far back does your mind go? I remember stories of some of the rodeos attended by our early-day cowboys. I heard tell of Valley County's rodeo taking place on the original fairground site. Apparently the first fairgrounds were located near the present day high school. I have also been told that early rodeos lacked the nice fence enclosures we have now. I remember something about cars and other vehicles being parked in a circle of sorts and that was used for the arena.

Early rodeos were often held on July Fourth. I think that some of these may have been spontaneous. Well, I guess some thought had to go into the event, as often times broncs or wild horses were brought to area picnics and the winning rider got paid by passing the hat. I bet there weren’t “pickup men” or clowns then. I doubt it was a timed event either as the cowboy was either bucked off or rode his mount to a standstill. Lots of times this event was held in an area where spectators could sit and view the fun on higher ground. No bleachers of course.

Some of us remember rodeos held at the Ridgerunners Club. The rodeos I remember there were held at the present grounds, but the building wasn’t always there, so were the original rodeos sponsored by the Ridgerunners held in another location? Just food for thought if you are in need of things to think about.