Annual Trail Ride to Take Place
By: Ruth Nicolaus
St. Paul Rodeo kicks off with first event; tickets limited due to restrictions
St. Paul Rodeo royalty leads the trail riders on the annual Trail Ride. This year’s ride is June 6. The ride is free but riders must sign up online. Photo courtesy Hoot Creek.
St. Paul, Ore. – The St. Paul Rodeo is pleased to announce that its annual Trail Ride will take place this year.
On June 6, trail riders can gather to ride their horses through the three-hour trip, starting in St. Paul, winding through farmland and along hop fields to the Willamette River, then back to town.
It’s a trip that Dave Smith has helped prepare for years.
The St. Paul native got “volun-told,” as he likes to say, to take down low branches and mow the route each year.
That was 35 years ago, and he’s still helping prepare the route, “checking for low limbs, making sure there are no holes for a horse to step in, putting out trash cans,” he said.
Being one of the Smith family (two of his great-uncles were founders of the rodeo when it began in 1936) and a long-time resident of St. Paul means Dave has been a life-long volunteer with the rodeo. “It’s kind of a curse,” he joked. But he loves it.
Trail riders enjoy the sunshine and scenery as they make their way on the annual St. Paul Rodeo trail ride. Photo courtesy Hoot Creek.
The trail ride is one of his favorites. “It’s seeing the same faces every year. You build relationships with the people on the ride and you see a lot of different personalities on the ride. It’s fun.”
The rodeo will be held this year, June 30-July 4, and for that, Smith is glad. “Everybody was let down last year. It just wasn’t summer without having a rodeo over the Fourth of July. It was quiet.”
Because of Covid restrictions, the trail ride will have a limited number of riders. The ride is free but participants must sign up online and check in at the contestant entry office for a number, to be allowed to ride.
A hearty breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and locally grown strawberries will be served from 7 am to 10:30 am. The breakfast will be held in the rodeo arena; the public is asked to enter through the Tack Room Saloon. Seating for the breakfast will be outdoors; please dress accordingly. Seatings will be at 7 am, 8 am, 9 am and 10 am; tickets must be purchased online to guarantee seating. Takeout breakfasts will be unlimited; purchase a ticket online to guarantee availability. Pickup for takeout will be by the Tack Room Saloon.
Check-in for the trail ride begins at 8 am; the trail ride starts at 10 am.
To sign up for the trail ride and for the breakfast, visit the rodeo’s website at www.StPaulRodeo.com. Cost of the breakfast is $12 for adults and $6 for children ages 12 and under.
Ticket sales for the rodeo have been paused until the state offers more direction regarding Covid restrictions. If rodeo tickets have been purchased already, they will be honored.