News and Notes from the Rodeo Trail, April 23
WranglerNetwork.com will livestream the Clovis (Calif.) Rodeo, also part of the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour, April 28 at 2 p.m. (PT) and April 29 at 2 p.m.
Steve Kenyon and ProRodeoLive.com will broadcast Ropin’ Dreams Cowboy Fellowship PRCA Rodeo in Jourdanton, Texas, April 27 at 7:30 p.m. (CT) and April 28 at 7:30 p.m. and the Gold County ProRodeo in Auburn, Calif., April 28 at 4 p.m. (PT) and April 29 at 2 p.m.
The next PRCA Rodeo Camp will be April 28 in Prescott, Ariz. The camp will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (PT). Registration is required at www.prorodeo.com/prorodeo/rodeo/youth-rodeo.
Brett Ortland, of Caldwell, Idaho, is the winner of the 2018 Top Hand Award for the Red Bluff (Calif.) Round-Up. The award is given each year to a volunteer who has dedicated their time to assisting with the Round-Up. Ortland was honored with a buckle for the Top Hand Award on April 14. Ortland, who has deep roots in Red Bluff, has been volunteering at the rodeo for the past 30-plus years. He began as a young adult, untying calves and opening gates. For the past two decades, his job has been to pull the latches on the chute gates. When the bull rider, bareback rider or saddle bronc rider is ready to ride, the cowboy nods his head, Ortland pulls the latch open, and Rod Moore, a director with the Round-Up, pulls the rope to open the gate.
Blue Mountain Community College, the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up and the city of Pendleton continue to work on the FARM 2 project, which would see an indoor arena and classrooms built on the rodeo grounds. Mayor John Turner says that facility is just one part of the plans for the area. “The city is interested in building a hotel attached to the convention center,” he said in the April 23 edition of www.mycolumbiabasin.com. “In my mind, I kind of link all of these projects together and it creates a parking problem for us, so we’re all working on that together.” Turner says the additional cars from a hotel, in addition to events at the proposed indoor arena, could not be contained in the parking that would exist after a hotel is built. He said both the city and the rodeo association are working to solve the potential problem in advance. “The city owns some land west of 18th street and the Round-Up owns some land west of 18th street,” he said. “We’re looking at seeing how we can collaborate on those.” The 2018 Pendleton Round-Up is Sept. 12-15.
ProRodeoTV.com will livestream Rodeo Corpus Christi (Texas), April 28 at 7 p.m. (CT) and April 29 at 3 p.m. Rodeo Corpus Christi is part of the new Wrangler ProRodeo Tour. The Tour will feature 23 rodeos – it began with Logandale, Nev., (April 11-15) and concludes with the Justin Finale, Sept. 6-9 in Puyallup, Wash.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“It would mean a lot to win the all-around here. Anytime you can win the all-around at something like Guymon (Okla.) or Cheyenne (Wyo.) or Salinas (Calif.) – somewhere that it’s a cowboy event – that’s great.”
– Steer roper/team roping header JoJo LeMond about the upcoming Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo May 4-6 in a press release by Ted Harbin.
Courtesy of PRCA