News and Notes from the Rodeo Trail, Aug. 30
by ProRodeo.com | Aug 30, 2016
The Wrangler Network will be providing three days of live coverage from Ellensburg, Wash., this weekend. The Xtreme Bulls season finale takes place Sept. 3, starting at 8 p.m. (PT), while the final two performances of the Ellensburg Rodeo will air live Sept. 4-5, with coverage starting at 11:45 a.m. (PT) both days. Log on to www.wranglernetwork.com to watch.
Steve Kenyon of ProRodeoLive will be providing coverage of the Walla Walla (Wash.) Frontier Days Sept. 2-4, with each performance beginning at 7 p.m. (PT), and will also be airing the final round from Ellensburg Sept. 5 at www.prorodeolive.com.
The six finalists for PRCA Pickup Man of the Year are Jason Bottoms, Shawn Calhoun, Chase Cervi, Gary Rempel, Matt Twitchell and Jeremy Willis. The voting process for the award begins Sept. 15. Twitchell won the inaugural Pickup Man of the Year award in 2015.
Fans at the 2016 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Polaris RANGER will be able to enjoy a new addition – The ’Shoe, a fully-themed Western hospitality and interactive experience that will also offer a new entrance from the northwest end of the arena. The 36,000-square-foot addition will feature an unobstructed view of the Las Vegas Strip from the balcony. In addition, The ’Shoe will feature interactive areas, the Walk of Champions, saddle displays and plenty of televisions. It will also be the site of CBS Sports Network’s rodeo pre-show. Access to The ’Shoe is available to all fans with a WNFR ticket for that evening’s performance. The area will also feature the live broadcast of the rodeo each night, including live feeds of different camera angles.
This year’s market stock auction at the Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo – including the Horse Heaven Roundup, in Kennewick, Wash. – brought in $855,000. More than 550 kids from Benton and Franklin counties, and the Columbia School District in Burbank, participated. The youngsters sold steers, goats, lambs and pigs after spending months raising the animals. The kids kept the money from the sales. “A lot of the money goes into college funds and things like that,” said Lance Dever, president of the fair’s market stock committee. “They learn responsibility. A lot of good lessons are learned through this.” Dever also said about $7,000 was raised for livestock barn and facility improvements at the fairgrounds.
Bob Ottmar, a former rodeo photographer, recently attended his 73rd consecutive Moses Lake (Wash.) Round-Up, dating all the way back to the rodeo’s first year of existence in 1943. “I was born in June, and back then the rodeo was in September,” Ottmar recalled. “My dad was involved in the very first rodeo, and just sort of took me along. He used to work the calf chutes at the timed-event end. He went to every one from 1943 to 1959, and I just kept the family tradition going.” On Aug. 26, PRCA announcer Will Rasmussen took a moment to recognize Ottmar and his incredible streak to the crowd in Moses Lake.
Taylor Rossenbach has been named the head coach of the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture (Curtis) rodeo team. He was a team roper and tie-down roper for the Aggies before graduating from the college in 2014.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“My dad didn’t have any sons, and so my sister and I became the boys of the family. My dad called me ‘Toughie,’ and he taught me how to ride. Horses have always been in my blood.”
– Janis Capezzoli Anderson, one of the five “Rodeo Grandmas” – who will be inducted into the Ellensburg (Wash.) Rodeo Hall of Fame Sept. 1 – talking to the Daily Record News
Courtesy of PRCA