Riggins is a tiny little town located between two of the deepest gorges in North America; Hells Canyon to the west and the Salmon River Canyon to the east. This town is known for its western hospitality, small town atmosphere, and beautiful canyons. It’s also acquired the name whitewater capital. Even though this is a very small town, with only one main street that has all the businesses, you would be shocked at the amount of people that travel from all over to enjoy its wonderful atmosphere. For instance, around the beginning of May this town attracts hundreds of people that travel many miles to enjoy the annual Riggins Rodeo. This year the rodeo is celebrating its 61st birthday and let me tell you if you were to make your way up there it would be a birthday party you’ll never forget.
This little rodeo is known by everyone in the rodeo community and by a large amount of people that don’t normally attend rodeos. Sure there are quite a few people that go to enjoy the great rodeo performance and the famous cooler ride but for most the people that I know going up there they are going strictly for the celebration that goes on after the rodeo. Every rodeo has some kind of party that goes on afterwards but there is nothing like the one that goes on in this little town. Most people head up Friday, which is the day before the rodeo even begins, and stay through Sunday. Everyone that goes for the party camps down on the sand bar; which is located just past the rodeo grounds down a bit further into the canyon. It’s quite the site when you start heading down the hill because there are about three hundred plus tents stretched along a three mile sandbar.
The ritual for most people is to stay up partying all Friday night, wake up to a guy screaming out “come enjoy the cowboy breakfast” on his megaphone, head to the rodeo at 1:30 PM, and head back down the hill for some more partying. What I forgot to mention was during the entire day Saturday, starting in the morning, people are cracking open beer after beer. To be honest I don’t know how they do it. You can only imagine this is what leads to the cooler races. The cooler race is held during the rodeo on Saturday and is an event where a bunch of drunken rednecks ride a cooler down an extremely steep hill. I really don’t know why people choose to do this event; I just hope they’re getting something dang good if they make it!
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Something better than a buch of drunks riding their coolers is the Suicide race at the Omak Stampede. A video is at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goaG3XNzA30.
This was all a part of the annual county fair they have every year. There were Indians in ceremonial outfits doing traditional dances. The rodeo there was the first one I had ever been to. The bronco riding was fun to watch, but the highlight of the day was the suicide race. The racers charge down 210 feet of a 60-degree slope covered with loose, wet sand. They then cross a river and race a 1/4 mile stretch into the rodeo arena. I was at the entrance and had to climb up on the wood fence to be out of the way of the racers. This fence was supported by wood poles, the size of utility poles. My field of view was restricted so that I could see them race down the hill and till they were halfway across the river. Then suddenly they sped past. You would feel the fence rumble before they appeared, and when they did the fence started to sway a little. Some of the riders had blood streaming from their noses and a couple of horses made it in without their riders. I was 12 at the time so this all made such a lasting impression. The other time I went to a rodeo they didn't have anything so spectacular that I felt seriously underwhelmed. This race has been in existence since 1935, but these days so many people look at it as cruelly exploiting the horses. As far as I'm concerned the horses get as much of a thrill from it as the riders. If I ever get the chance I would like to go see that race again.
Wow! That race is something else. I can see how that would leave a lasting impression. I’ve never seen anything like that and I’ve been to tons of rodeos. I can understand why some people may think it’s cruel to the horses but that’s only because I’m a barrel racer. I would cry if I saw my horses doing that but in barrel racing horse’s legs are everything and that race looks like it puts a lot of stress on their bodies. You are completely right though; if those horses didn’t want to do it then they wouldn’t plain and simple. If you were to ever watch wild horses or even some domestic horses they do crazy stuff like that whether they have a rider making them or not. People always need a reason to complain though. I could go on and on about rodeo activist and how they are trying to ruin the sport of rodeo but I’ll just shut my mouth on that subject :). In my opinion it’s a tradition that’s been going on for years and towns need to hold on to some of their roots. By the way you should try and make it to some more rodeos. They’re a ton of fun and there are lots around this area throughout the summer. Although you might not see anything quite like that.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading your post, I noticed that alcohol seems to be a pretty big part of the whole rodeo experience. It would be pretty interesting to do some research on how alcohol, especially beer, ended up being such a big part of it. Are there any well-known advocates of "dry" rodeos?
ReplyDeleteAlso, you titled your blog "A neverending epidemic." Are you implying that being attracted to the rodeo is some kind of sickness?
ReplyDelete