It is no small task to stage a professional rodeo, including last-minute questions to be answered such as how many stalls will be needed, how often the arena will need to be raked, how many contestants will be camping and will they require hook-ups?
The Flagstaff Pine Country Pro Rodeo had a good run for 27 years through 2008, but has not been seen since.
The complexity and expense of producing a rodeo during poor economic times may have contributed to the demise of the annual rodeo event.
After the non-profit organization that operated the rodeo dissolved, a vacuum was left that will finally be filled when the rodeo returns on Friday, June 27 through Sunday, June 29 with the debut of the Flagstaff Pro Rodeo 2014 on the fairgrounds of Fort Tuthill County Park just south of town.
A Rodeo This Summer for Sure
Bringing back professional rodeo to town has been a labor of love for almost two years for longtime Flagstaff resident Kristen Daulton, who is president of the board of directors for the non-profit Flagstaff Pro Rodeo Inc. that formed in February 2013 to raise money and create a brand-new event.
“People are always asking, ‘Are you still trying to bring the rodeo back?’” said Daulton. “Now, we aren’t trying; we are having a rodeo this summer. We’re really making history bringing the rodeo back.”
Daulton, who went to elementary and secondary school in Flagstaff and graduated from Northern Arizona University with a degree in business management, says she loves riding and got her first horse at age 13.
She has competed in cowboy mounted shooting and barrel racing in the past.
Now, there seem to be fewer activities like barrel races, she notes.
While attending the December 2012 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, she talked to people in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) about the lack of a rodeo in Flagstaff.
“They asked why didn’t we have a rodeo here anymore,” she recalled. “So, they started to push me to start it up again, and it’s been a bigger job than I ever imagined. There is so much to do with it, not just the rodeo but also the legalities, like starting up a corporation.”
Efforts to raise about $80,000 to finance the rodeo are ongoing. The non-profit is still looking for sponsors and will be trying to collect all monetary contributions by May 15.
Fun, Right Down to the Dirt
The Flagstaff rodeo will be part of the Turquoise Circuit, which includes Arizona and New Mexico, under the auspices of PRCA and Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA).
Competition will be waged in seven events, including barrel racing, bull riding, bareback, steer wrestling, saddle bronc, tie-down roping and team roping, with 10 contestants in each event.
Daulton says they don’t yet know how many contestants will be coming, but “cowboys and cowgirls from all over are coming to compete with us.”
About 25 volunteers also have been serving on a committee to assist the board in making the rodeo a reality.
“They don’t have to be rodeo people to help us,” Daulton notes.
What the volunteers do share is a love of Western heritage here.
“It’s super exciting to bring Western heritage back to Flagstaff,” said volunteer Palma Brown, who was born and raised in Flagstaff and rides horses, especially in Western Pleasure competition. “Most of all, it’s fun. I think everything is fun, right down to the dirt.”
Another Flagstaff native, Tia Baldocchi, is also a volunteer. She is a rodeo veteran and served as Teen Queen at the 2008 Pine Country Rodeo.
“We walked the grandstands and promoted the rodeo,” she said. “We signed autographs for all the kids.”
Although it is not an event in the upcoming rodeo, she specializes in mounted shooting, where the rider has two loaded revolvers with five rounds each and attempts to hit 10 balloons around the arena.
Clowns and Royalty
The board and committee meet regularly to meet all of the many deadlines ahead, including deciding details such as finalizing the order for belt buckles, which, along with a $1,000 prize, will be awarded in each event.
All the work is paying off. Plans are well on track for the event and tickets may be purchased in early May.
“We would like to cover our costs, and also make some money for the next year so we’re not starting from zero,” Daulton said. “We would be really happy if we got 7,000 for the weekend, but we would hope for 9,000; that would put us at capacity.”
However, the return of rodeo to Flagstaff will not include the parade that had been a feature of the event in the past.
“There are too many things to do,” she explained. “We can’t do it all this year. We needed to find our limits and make it all really great.”
Other popular elements, like rodeo clowns and rodeo royalty, will be part of the FPR. In fact, women will compete to be part of the royalty court on May 31 at Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort, the sponsor that is also hosting all the contestants.
None of the events here have finals, so that makes it more convenient for contestants to compete here and still have time to travel to other rodeos to compete.
The timing of the Flagstaff rodeo was also carefully selected.
“The Prescott rodeo starts Monday, the day after we close,” Daulton said. “The Prescott rodeo, the oldest rodeo, is very prestigious. We are hoping to catch some of the contestants here before they go down there to compete.”
Something to Anticipate
Mike Felts, part of the six-member board for FPR, says he remembers watching the rodeo parade as a kid.
“I have a big country history in my family,” he said. “My dad’s side of the family are all rodeo, but they’re from Texas and New Mexico. My passion for it was growing up with it here. It was such a big part of Flagstaff. Since the rodeo was gone, it was a big miss, basically.”
Another board member, Megan Devoe, has been doing “backyard” horse riding for years.
“I was involved in the rodeo back in high school, doing grand entry,” she said. “I’m just really exited to get it going again.”
Other features of rodeo weekend will be the slack event before the rodeo on Saturday that gives a chance for “extras” – the contestants who didn’t make it into the official events – to compete.
Amateurs, especially children, also will have their own event: “Mutton busting,” the sheep-riding event on all three days before the rodeo begins.
Daulton says another big plus for a summer rodeo in Flagstaff is the beautiful weather at the end of June. “It will be very pretty. It will all be worth it when you get the event all together and see the grandstands packed.” FBN
To find out more about the event and how to sponsor, volunteer or donate, visit www.flagstaffrodeo.com or e-mail flagstaffrodeo@gmail.com.
Betsey Bruner is a longtime and award-winning Flagstaff journalist and photographer. A member of both Flagstaff Independent Business Alliance (FIBA) and the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce, she operates her Words & Images freelance business out of her downtown location in the historic McMillan Building. Reach her by email at betseybruner@gmail.com.
