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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,904 posts)
Mon Jun 22, 2020, 12:45 PM Jun 2020

The Summer Without Rodeos -- Around the country, but mostly in small towns in the West, ...

Yes, the New York Times runs articles about rodeos.

The Summer Without Rodeos

Around the country, but mostly in small towns in the West, hundreds of professional rodeos have been canceled.

By John Branch
Published June 19, 2020
Updated June 21, 2020

STONYFORD, Calif. — Tucked into the hard wrinkles of Northern California foothills, the one-stop-sign town of Stonyford can feel like the middle of nowhere. ... Zoe Brandenberger, one of about 200 residents, has spent most of her life in Stonyford. ... “Right when you think you’re lost,” she said while offering driving directions, “you’re about here.”

{snip}

Around the country, but mostly in small towns in the West, hundreds of professional rodeos have been canceled — hard blows to tradition and economics. In many places, the rodeo is the biggest event on the annual calendar.

Some rodeos, like Stonyford, with $18,000 in prize money, are relatively small affairs. Some, like Cheyenne Frontier Days or the Calgary Stampede, are immense undertakings that last a week or two and, besides being daily rodeos with $1 million or more in payouts, are filled with concerts, carnivals and livestock shows.

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, the governing body of about 700 annual rodeos, estimates that about half will not take place in 2020. Those still on the schedule are working with fingers crossed, some moving dates to buy more time.

{snip}

Rodeo holds a unique spot in the American sports landscape. Golf, NASCAR, even the professional bull riding tour have resurrected made-for-television events from sequestered locations, mostly without fans. The N.B.A., N.H.L. and Major League Soccer are among those creating plans to quarantine teams all together to resume games far from their home arenas and stadiums.

Rodeos are different. They are not a league, but a loose coalition of community events, usually run by nonprofit organizations and volunteers. ... The point is the place.



“Right when you think you’re lost, you’re about here,” said Zoe Brandenberger of Stonyford while offering driving directions.Credit...Max Whittaker for The New York Times

You cannot move the Pendleton Round-Up to Texas from Oregon. Cheyenne Frontier Days cannot be held at Walt Disney World. Stonyford Rodeo cannot be moved to someplace else. ... “We wouldn’t have a town without a rodeo,” said Dale Seidel of Burwell, Neb., where Nebraska’s Big Rodeo has been the big annual event since 1921.

{snip}

John Branch is a sports reporter. He won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for “Snow Fall,” a story about a deadly avalanche in Washington State, and was also a finalist for the prize in 2012. @JohnBranchNYT

A version of this article appears in print on June 22, 2020, Section D, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Places That Hang Their Hats On the Rodeo Are Left to Hope. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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The Summer Without Rodeos -- Around the country, but mostly in small towns in the West, ... (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jun 2020 OP
Rodeos remind me of the rodeo scene from "Borat" DonaldsRump Jun 2020 #1
Montana Rodeo Ptah Jun 2020 #2

DonaldsRump

(7,715 posts)
1. Rodeos remind me of the rodeo scene from "Borat"
Mon Jun 22, 2020, 12:56 PM
Jun 2020

I saw this in a theater and was basically gasping for oxygen because I was laughing so hard! B/t/w, I went to a rodeo once in my life, and it was awful. I saw a steer race out the chute and crash into the fence, immediately breaking a horn. I've never been back.

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