It may have been a little warm, but that was the only real complaint from organizers of the Sportsman’s Holiday activities after the three-day event closed down with the Sunday afternoon Sweet Home Rodeo.
“It went very well. I was really happy with it,” said Patti Wood, a Chamber of Commerce board member who, along with fellow board member Billie Weber and chamber volunteer Leita Seiber-Barr, organized the parade and a variety of children’s activities.
Saturday’s Grand Parade drew some 58 entries and ran smoothly, without any serious lapses, Wood said. She said problems with people parking on 22nd Avenue did complicate the departure of some floats, but eventually everybody was rolling.
At the Outdoor Events Center, the three-day Sweet Home Rodeo had a banner year, Rodeo Board President Dick Coffin said. Coffin, who announced his resignation from the board at Sunday’s rodeo (“retirement – I love rodeo too much to quit altogether”), said this year’s rodeo was “excellent.”
“I’ve been involved in the rodeo for 23 years and I’ve been on the board for 20,” he said. “Every year is improving. The group we had this year really came together and pulled off an excellent, excellent rodeo. Everything ran real smooth.
“For the economy and everything, we had an excellent, excellent crowd.”
According to Rodeo Treasurer Ron Danielson, the rodeo drew 500 spectators on Friday and 900 on Saturday, both above average, and 200 on Sunday.
Coffin said he thought one of the draws may have been rodeo clown Cody Sanford, who promised to ride a bull backward – and did near the end of Saturday’s show.
“A lot of people were totally amazed by that,” Coffin said. “He looked like a rag doll. Everybody thought it was a dummy until he got off.”
Danielson said the weather was definitely a factor on Sunday.
“We were hoping for more on Sunday but until we get a covered grandstand, it’s tough,” he said. “The lake’s a hard competitor. There’s nothing like that at Philomath and some of these other rodeos. People only have one choice if they’re looking for something to do.”
He said that, thanks to the sponsors, the event likely will be close to breaking even.
“Fuel prices are cutting into everybody,” he said. “But our sponsors still came through. If it wasn’t for them digging deep, we wouldn’t have had a rodeo this year.”
He said the feedback he got from participants was enthusiastic.
“(Announcer) Bob (Garrett) said it was the best rodeo he’s been to this year,” Danielson said. “The crowd was enthusiastic. The showed up in numbers. It was smooth, held in a great setting. It cooled off in the evening on Friday and Saturday.
“It was probably one of the better rodeos we’ve had in recent years.”
The annual Working Logger Olympics on Saturday afternoon turned out to be exactly that – a head-to-head competition between Rice Logging, which had won the loggers relay event for the last four years, and McCollum Logging, which pulled off an upset over Rice by 1.2 seconds.
The Logger Olympics opened with a tie for first in the novice ax throw as Kody Marvin and Sawyer Anderson scored 12 points to start the showdown. After two more rounds of ax throwing, Anderson defeated Marvin 11-10 and won first place.
Mike Carpenter was the winner in the annual contest to guess the weight of a giant old-growth log that was trucked in for the event. Carpenter guessed 44,444 pounds. The log weighed 44,380 pounds.
Police said the crowds behaved themselves at the various events and the only serious problem was a truck-versus-bicycle accident after the fireworks show on Saturday night.
Police Chief Bob Burford said the accident happened at 10:37 p.m. when a 1982 Toyota pickup driven by Charles Palmer, 16, of Sweet Home, stuck a bicycle ridden by Michael Turnbull, 47, also of Sweet Home, on Highway 20 at the railroad trestle.
Burford said the accident remained under investigation on Monday and that “citations are pending.” He said Turnbull was taken to the hospital but his condition was unknown Monday.
Otherwise, things went well in town, Sgt. Jason Van Eck said.
“Other than that one accident, traffic did really good leaving the fireworks show,” he said. “We were busy with calls, but there was nothing real major.”
He said the lakeside at Foster was “really packed,” partly due to a 30-year reunion held by the Sweet Home High School Class of 1978 at The Point restaurant Saturday.
“Overall, I think it was a really good weekend,” Van Eck said. “There were no problems out at the rodeo that we had to get involved with.”
The Sportsman’s Holiday Mile, in its third year, drew a record 62 runners despite the absence of the Sportsman’s Holiday Court, which had participated in the event in previous years. Caleb Goins of Scio won the event for the second straight year. See Sports for more details.
A children’s parade was held Friday afternoon and two stick horse rodeos were held, one on Friday and one on Saturday following the Grand Parade.
The Grand Parade Sweepstakes award was won by AMVETs, which used youngsters marching with green-clad veterans to illustrate the theme “Green and Growing.”
Following the parade, Woods and others put on a Kiddie Karnival in the parking lot behind Lorene’s Cafe, but it didn’t get rolling until about 1 p.m., after many of the parade spectators had left. She said organizers will take care of that problem next year, making sure the Karnival is ready to go when the parade ends.
Woods said she’s hoping to get more volunteers to help with the events next year and wants to start meeting early to coordinate and plan things.
“If we could get a committee started in January or Feburary, I think we could pull off one of the best Sportsman’s Holidays we’ve ever had,” she said.
Sportsman’s Holiday Parade Winners
1st Sweepstakes Winner -AMVETs
Royalty Court – Sportsman’s Holiday Court
Religious – Fir Lawn Lutheran Church
Antique Cars – Henry Wolthius
Classic Cars – Ray Friend
Commercial – State Farm
Civic & Fraternal – Genealogy Society
Youth Group – Little Promises
Dance Teams – Sweet Home High School Dance Team
Dignitaries – Rosie the Riverter & The Red Hat Ladies
Horses – Three Springs
(Judging done by Kiwanis Club)
Chidren’s Parade
Grand Prize Winners – The Little Hilburn’s
Clubs – B & B Ribers
Bikes Individual – Jessi Davenport
Pets – Tails A Waggin’
Small Group – Karrah Lewis & sister
Bikes Group of Two – Tanner & Conner Johnson
Fastest Moving Bikes – Joseph MaQuatish
Bikes Small & Cute – John-Luke MaQuatish
Stick Horse Rodeo
Best Dressed Cowgirl – Paige Chafin
Best Dressed Cowboy – Conner Johnson
The Barrels 2&3 Year Olds – Paige Chafin, Molly Johnson, John-Luke MaQuatish
The Barrels 4&5 Year Olds – Conner Johnson, Dougy Saoa, Joshua Wilson
The Barrels 6 Years Olds – Virtue Goetz, Conner Johnson, Joseph MaQuatish, Rebekah Fassler
Figure Eight 2&3 Year Olds – Paige Chafin & Molly Johnson
Figure Eight 4&5 Year Olds – Tanner Johnson, Hailey, Conner Johnson & Dougy Faoa
Figure Eight 6 Year Olds – Rebekah Fassler & Tanner Johnson, Virtue Goetz, MerLanda Faoa, Pippy Somathis
Flags
2/3 Year Olds – Paige Chafin & Molly Johnson
4/5 Year Olds – Hailey, Dougy Faoa, Ashley Morrelli
6 Year Olds – Conner Johnson, MerLanda Faoa, Tanner Johnson
Key Hole
2/3 Year Olds- Paige Chafin & Molly Johnson
4/5 Year Olds – Dougy Faoa, Hailey, Ashley Morrelli
6 Year Olds – Tanner Johnson, Conner Johnson, MerLanda Fooa & Virtue Goetz
(Judging done by Leta Seiber-Barr and Patti Woods)