Round-Up Roots
By: Ruth Nicolaus
Red Bluff native has generational ties to Round-Up, has competed at it and is a fan
Hazel McKenzie Brown’s roots run deep at the Red Bluff Round-Up. She rode in the grand entry and the parade as a child, barrel raced and competed in the horse race at the Round-Up, and has faithfully attended the rodeo every year since she was a toddler. Photo courtesy Brown.
Red Bluff, Calif. – When it’s rodeo time in Red Bluff, Hop and Hazel Brown’s house is full.
That’s when about twenty of the Browns’ family converges on their house for the Red Bluff Round-Up.
They show up on Friday of Round-Up week and go to all three rodeo performances, crashing at Hop and Hazel’s house each night.
Their children: daughter Tami Brown and sons Luke Glines and Flint Glines, make it a tradition.
But the tradition started a generation prior to Hazel.
Her dad, Abner McKenzie, worked as a pickup man at the rodeo and served as a director for the Round-Up for years. Each year, he and his wife Shirlie would pack up their five kids and head to town to ride in the parade and the grand entry.
“We’d all help wash horses and braid their manes and tails, because it was a big deal,” she said.
Hazel Brown barrel races at the Red Bluff Round-Up in the early 1960s. The Red Bluff native is the second generation of her family to be involved in the Round-Up; her father, Abner, was a director and pickup man, her son Zane was a director, and now her nephew, Cody McKenzie, is a director. Photo courtesy Brown.
Abner was industrious and expected his kids to be, too, but they never missed the Round-Up or the Red Bluff Bull Sale. “He was the kind of man who worked hard on the ranch but when it came to rodeo and bull sale, we all went to town,” she said.
Brown has done more than being a spectator at the Round-Up.
She competed in the barrel racing at the Round-Up in 1961 and ’62, and won the cowgirl horse race three times in the 1970s, on a rope horse belonging to Jerry Brewer.
Brewer told her she could borrow his horse for the race. “He said, ‘I have a running son of a gun for you but you gotta be able to ride him,’” Brown said. The horse race starts from a standstill, and Brewer’s rope horse was antsy. “That horse would jump up and down,” she said. “That son of a gun wanted to go.”
Hop and Hazel’s family start showing up on the Friday night of the Round-Up. Son Flint Glines comes from Morgan Hill, Calif. and son Luke Glines travels from Colorado. Their wives, kids and grandkids come along, and stay at Hop and Hazel’s. “It’s just packed,” she said. “There are beds everywhere.” Daughter Tami Brown and son Zane Glines live in Red Bluff.
Hazel Brown rides in the 2016 Red Bluff Round-Up parade. She and her family, including husband Hop Brown, were chosen as parade grand marshals that year. Photo courtesy Brown.
The entire family goes to the rodeo on Friday night, while Hazel stays home to cook. Then Saturday morning, it’s time for a big breakfast then everyone heads to Red Bluff for the Saturday matinee, and they do it all over again on Sunday for the matinee. Five grandkids and three great-grandkids join them all.
Hazel’s dad, Abner McKenzie, had box seats in which she and Hop sat in for years before bequeathing it to son Flint, who shares it with Luke’s family. Zane and his family have their own box seats, and Hop and Hazel have a different box.
The third generation of Hazel’s family is involved in the Round-Up. Zane Glines served as a director for several years, coordinating track activities. And now Zane’s cousin, Hazel’s brother’s son, Cody McKenzie, is a director, taking Zane’s spot.
Hazel estimates she’s never missed attending the Round-Up since her parents brought her when she was two or three; the 77-year-old remembers her and her siblings bringing sleeping bags to their grandparents’ house and staying overnight, while her parents, Abner and Shirlie, went out at night for Round-Up activities.
“It’s fun,” she said. “We all have a good time. My family doesn’t miss a rodeo, and their kids don’t, either.”
The 101st Red Bluff Round-Up takes place April 15-17, with performances at 7 pm on April 15, 2:30 pm on April 16 and 1:30 pm on April 17.
Tickets are $20-$40 and can be purchased online at RedBluffRoundup.com, at the Round-Up office, and at the gate. For more information, visit the website or call 530.527.1000.