Sisters PRCA Rodeo, 2009

The Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA) comes to Oregon several times a year, offering the spectacle of pro rodeo to many communities.  (Many more communities see amateur rodeos and local rodeo athletes compete at fairs and carnivals during the Summer, such as those hosted by the NPRA.)  It is from accumulated PRCA events cowboys earn enough points and money to qualify to the National Final Rodeo (NFR) held in Las Vegas in December -- the World Series, so to speak, or Super Bowl of rodeo.  Pendleton's week long "round-up" is the most notorious, but the Sisters Rodeo is the most, well, locally glamorous.  Held every year in the middle of June, the Sisters Rodeo is a weekend many Central Oregon ranchers and urban cowboys alike look forward to. Get ready to buy some new boots and hat and souvenirs, kick up your bling-bedecked heals, drink some non-craftsman beer, and speak in twang, because we're off to the rodeo!

The rodeo is a spectacle of western athleticism.  Dominionist force over wild nature is seductive.  Rough stock cowboys spurring bucking broncos and bulls is the big sell, as is the thought of watching gladiator like figures battling in a dirt arena. Rodeo is a spectacle for ticket holders.  At the professional level rodeo is big business, big investment, and, for the many athletes, a big gamble.  

When Coors buzzed crowd laughs at one liners repeated by the omnipresent arena announcer, athletes behind the chutes are joking amongst themselves, preparing their rigging, and sometimes not quietly wondering if they will be able to pay the mortgage over an 8-second ride.  Draw a "rank" bull to ride or steer to wrestle, the more danger and more likely to fail.  It also mean more money if won.

Behind the chutes are athletes, their families, and supporters who volunteer to ready animals and work the chutes. (It is an especially family oriented lifestyle where spouses, parents, and kids travel together, living out of horse trailers several months of the year on the road to Las Vegas.)  Also behind the chutes are contractors supplying life stock to be ridden and chased down during the three hour performance, medical staff, rodeo administrators, and royalty Contractors build their reputation and inflate their fees when athletes are challenged by their stock, when they provide the properly rank.  EMTs struggle offering adequate care to abused yet stubborn cowboys,  and administrators check over ticket sales.  Rodeo royalty -- young women in garish sequins outfits, tiaras, and oversized belt buckles, represent something feminine in rodeo -- smile at cameras, wave at the crowd, and perform area chores like rounding-up stray calves.   Like a theater performance, the crowd cheers for action as an entire ensemble of actors and crew work diligently to earn their pay. 

Pro rodeo includes particular events in every performance.  These include "rough stock" and timed events.  Rough stock are those events featuring anything that bucks -- bare-back, saddle broncs, and bulls.  Timed events are calf-roping, steer wrestling, team roping, and barrel racing. Rough stock cowboys are the studs.  They wear flamboyant gear, tight jeans, and are often young and suggest untamed virility.  The timed folks tend to be the more mature, less flashy, get-the-job-done types.  The only women-only rodeo event -- barrel racing -- is a timed event, and is an exhilarating run around the arena at full gallup.  Unlike the rough stock cowboys who drive all night from one rodeo to the other, timed cowboys trailer their way across the states, keeping their highly trained horses close at bay, and suffering the whims of diesel costs.