If you’ve paid any attention to the windows in downtown Sweet Home recently, you’ve probably seen signs for the rodeo. Both rodeos.
This weekend, it’s time for the annual Sweet Home Rodeo, which has been around, off and on, under various names since 1918, and is definitely worth your attention if you like the raw action of the sport.
It’s also the date for the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo, which runs concurrent to Sweet Home’s event, and is publicized in some local businesses, in some cases to the exclusion of the local event.
Maybe I haven’t been here long enough, but I don’t get that.
I’m not an expert on rodeo and last year was my first visit to the local one. But I was favorably impressed, having been to a number of others over the years. It was worth going to, even in the rain.
Our rodeo is put on by volunteers. None of the organizers gets paid, but they put on a good show.
The announcer keeps things lively, the clown is funny. The action may be a notch or two below what you see on TV every other day, but it’s just as genuine – maybe more so because these guys and gals don’t have the bucks those NPRA dudes have. Many of the cowboys who show up at the Sweet Home rodeo have real jobs, some on real ranches.
This is different entertainment and it’s good entertainment. Even if you’re not normally drawn to horseflesh and cowhide, you’ll have a good time. The mutton bustin’ and calf scramble alone are worth the price of admission.
So why would we want to go down the road to Philomath, to see the same performers there, when we have our own rodeo? Clearly, the Frolic has an aggressive marketing campaign. Somebody drove those posters up here.
Fact is, at the risk of sounding preachy, you should be at our rodeo.
Even if you’re a rodeo connoisseur, this is still your rodeo. Do you want it to be better? Then show some support. Start by being there.
Being rather new in town, I hear that when the Oregon Jamboree started 14 years ago, it wasn’t too big a deal. I imagine there were naysayers then, asking what this fool idea was all about. I didn’t hear too many naysayers last year, when the Jamboree drew a record crowd of 27,000, many of them from out of town, to Sweet Home, and made $240,000.
The Sweet Home rodeo is not a joke. It’s been around for many years, longer than most of us have, largely because of the devoted volunteers who stubbornly keep it going and who deserve appreciation (and support) for their efforts. They’ve gotten a needed financial boost this year from the Sweet Home Economic Development Group. SHEDG’s help was necessary since the rodeo organizers didn’t have quite enough in their own pockets to pull the rodeo out of the hole it slid into after rain kept the normal crowds away last year.
So what are you planning to do this weekend?
Here’s a suggestion: Support your local rodeo by making an appearance – and having a good time to boot.
* * * * *
I try not to take undue advantage of the fact that I have the privilege of writing this column, but I have a little beef (to keep the rodeo lingo going here). Actually, it’s my dog that has the beef, but I’m the one who had to dig him out of my wife’s flower garden the other night after some scofflaw started shooting off illegal fireworks five days before the Fourth of July. My dog has an irrational fear of fireworks and loses what little common sense he normally has when they start exploding.
I realize that we have a strong tradition of scoffing at the law here in Oregon. It’s why many came here in the first place. But illegal fireworks are really stupid when it’s getting dry and they are a major problem for most pets. If this year is anything like last, people in certain sections of town can be expected to shoot them off for days following the Fourth, which is why I’m mentioning it now.
In a previous city of residence, my next door neighbor was a firefighter. In this town we had a lot of block parties on the Fourth and, inevitably, the “real” fireworks would start appearing. I was a little surprised when, after an aerial display from down the block, my neighbor quietly got a ladder and climbed up to take a look at his and my roofs. There, on his roof, was a live cinder, burning away on the asphalt shingles.
I enjoy fireworks and I grew up in a place, Japan, where, when I was a kid, you can legally buy just about anything you wanted. It also rains constantly there and most of the roofs are made of tile or metal. So the only real danger is blowing your hand off.
The Fourth is over, folks, so put the fireworks away till New Year’s. You’ll save some bucks and maybe I can quit having to chain my dog to a pole after dark..