After a 13-year hiatus, Sweet Home will once again be the location for a rodeo as a new nonprofit saddles up and loads the chute for its first event to be held Aug. 16, 2025.
The board – consisting of Erin Barstad, Jeana Doll, Tom Lewison, McKenzie Reynolds and Sarita Zanona – got word last month that their new nonprofit, Sweet Home Rodeo and Events, was official. But, seeing as they’ve never before organized a rodeo themselves, it made more sense to them to hire a production company for the task.
Enter Longhorn Productions, a company that will put on the rodeo in Sweet Home as part of its “Hell on Hooves” Roughstock Rodeo Tour. The production company holds rodeos in Oregon and Washington, ending its tour with a grand finale and big payout.
The one-day event will include bale riding, bulls, bronc riding (bareback and saddle) and mutton busting, closing out the day with an after-party. Barrel racing is also on the agenda, where Reynolds said the board expects to draw the names of six local riders for participation.
“We’re gonna open the gates at noon and it’ll be kinda like a fair; there will be vendors and food and drinks, a lot of stuff for the kid,” Reynolds said. “We’ll have pony rides, there will be a petting zoo, we’re hoping to get a bounce house, there’s gonna be face painting, a few carnival games here and there, and then there will be a live band playing.”
It is believed the first Calapooia Roundup rodeo began in 1917, held just one mile west of Crawfordsville. The rodeo was canceled in 1952 and 1953, and returned for two more years in 1954 and 1955.
It was Sportsman’s Holiday that revived the Calapooia Roundup in Sweet Home, adding it to the 1983 festivities one week before the Holiday activities began. That rodeo took place behind the high school before eventually moving to Long Street at 40th Avenue. By 2012, after 29 successful rodeo events in Sweet Home, what by then was being called the Sweet Home Rodeo hung up its chaps because organizers were unable to secure the $35,000 cost for the event.
Reynolds remembered going to the rodeo as she grew up.
“I was so sad when it wasn’t able to keep going on,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to have it come back. I wanted to bring it back, or at least be involved in it coming back. I was like, you know what, no one else is doing it so let’s just do it and see who else wants to help.”
Talking to former Sweet Home rodeo board members and finding like-minded people who were also eager to bring the event back, Reynolds has been able to overcome the first hurdles to making her dream a reality.
She envisions the rodeo ultimately being a fundraising opportunity for local sports teams, community groups and school clubs (such as FFA, 4-H and OHSET). To be sure, though, this is a huge learning curve for Reynolds and the board, but they have one year to iron out all the details, including filling vendor spots, soliciting sponsorships and nailing down how locals can participate.
“I’ve talked with a lot of the board members that were a part of it back in the day,” Reynolds said. “They put on the whole rodeo themselves. They didn’t have anybody come put it on for them. I couldn’t even imagine trying to do that at the moment; that is just like a whole ‘nother – I don’t even want to tackle that – that sounds crazy to me at the moment. It’s been awesome though; the amount of support that the community has, and information, and just like people reaching out like ‘Hey, what can I do for you…’”
Anyone interested in sponsorship or volunteering to help make the Sweet Home Rodeo a lasting tradition can contact Reynolds at 541.409.2703 or via email at [email protected]. For more information, visit sweethomerodeo.com.
Rodeos, Reynolds said, provide family fun that includes a bit of that thrill factor.
“It’s one of those things that, not when people get hurt necessarily, but when there’s that danger, it’s exciting, it’s thrilling, it’s like ‘Oh that guy got bucked really high!’ And it’s for the whole family,” she said. “You think, ‘This is gonna be so much fun. I get to hang out with my family, we get to get to some carnival food and walk around, see all the bulls and see all the horses.’”