The 2 nd weekend in August is a BIG WEEKEND in Jefferson County, Id: FAIR TIME! Love this time of year! Empty panels, buildings, booths, and a grass lot are transformed into a bustling community gathered together to celebrate a year of hard work! 4H projects are proudly on display. Pigs, steers, and sheep in TOP condition compete for the Grand Champion Title. An area that normally has only one or two restaurant choices is now a mecca for fine dining. The WJ high school rodeo club is set up with square ice cream cones and cute girls to serve you. Famous Hamer Hoagies from the McGarry family and the most AMAZING Mexican food ever….are just a few of your cuisine options.
(Seriously, there was a booth selling tacos that I was addicted to! I had them on Wednesday…thought about having more about 30 minutes more but they were closed. I ate them like 4 days in a row and even dreamed about them 1 night! I was convinced that they must have some addictive in them cuz I was obsessed! We fondly referred to them as Cocaine Tacos the rest of the weekend! Oh they were so good! ….drooling just thinking about it!....so I got sidetracked….Now…back to the rodeo trail!)
Now, as you know, I go to lots of rodeos throughout the summer. I wear many different hats…Timer, Truck driver, Hay feeder, Flank hanger, Stripping Chute runner…just to name a few. This week is particularly special for me because I have the opportunity to be the Stock Contractor and provide the stock for the Mud Lake Rodeo! This is a rodeo that I’ve been wondering around the back pens since I was little so it is such a privilege to be able to work with my community to put on a great hometown rodeo!
THANK You to Don and Cherly Bird, Dave Burtenshaw & the ENTIRE Burtenshaw family, Regg and McKell Carpenter family, Crystal Carpenter, Nancy Durham, Matt Mecham, Barney Carpenter, and all the volunteers that work so hard to make the fair and rodeo a success!
THANK YOU to my AMAZING RODEO CREW! Bull fighters, Justin and Mark Scherer, Pickup men Bret and Lincoln Zollinger, Jaron Palmer….I couldn’t have asked for any better! Perfect at their jobs and ALWAYS go above and beyond the call of duty! THANK YOU!
THANK YOU to J2 Hoggan, Dusty Peterson family, and Ms Savannah McGarry for ALL of your help! You are rock stars and I couldn’t do it without you! Regg, J2 and the Peterson crew spent countless hours loading and hauling stock into the fair grounds.
At one point, Dusty, Jeramiah and J2 where bringing bulls at a high lope up the alley to load on the semi….while I stood on top of the roof waving a sorting stick to detour from the jumping on top of the roof….again. : )
That is just one of the super exciting stock contracting moments we had along the rodeo trail. The very wildest I only heard about…but I’ll give you what I heard. : ) Saturday night performance has come to a close. The crew and I are hustling to get animals fed and put to bed. There were a few turn outs in the bulls so I helped Savannah set up to roll them thru and back in with the rest of the herd. Gates are all ready to go. I leave to go write checks. …….well apparently….this is where it got interesting! 1 st bull rolls thru like clockwork. 2 nd bull is only one chute gate behind….but in this amount of time…CALAMITY STRIKES! Bronc rider, thinks that was the last bull and absent mindedly CLOSES the gate….putting himself RIGHT IN FRONT of the BULL and lets the BULL behind the chutes! This bull is less than friendly and definitely wouldn’t be my pick if I needed to be in close quarters with one. The bull strolling through guys gear bags and all kinds of people! Screaming, jumping up on the chutes out of the line of fire! Well this is great grand and wonderful but there is only ONE way out from behind the chutes …..and that is through a tiny tiny tiny man gate….and to get to it you have to go down a skinny little path next to the stripping chutes! To this day, I will NEVER know how they got THAT BULL through THAT GATE…pretty sure he even rolled right by a small child, and let him untouched….as he went down the small path and through the little date! All I can say is….Our guardian angels are HANDY!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU again to the entire Mud Lake, Terreton, Hamer, and Monteview community! THANK YOU to all of the talented rodeo contestants that competed, ALL the RODEO FANS, and everyone who works so hard year round to continue the hometown tradition of our Fair & Rodeo!
THANK YOU to John & Cody Spencer, Boedie Evans, and J2 Hoggan for all your help sorting and loading out to go home. Long hot day and I appreciated all of your help!
THANK YOU! LOVIN the RODEO TRAIL!
Rodeo Tales & Gypsy Trails
is proudly brought to you by
Lil' Red Roan
CUSTOM BEADED BELTS:
Beautiful Handcarved Leather work by MARTINY SADDLE CO.
Custom bead work by Laurie Small!
FALL FABULOUSNESS from Lil' Red Roan! ~
Quality hand carved leather bracelets, Beautiful jewelry, Lovely lady leg KNIVES, & MORE!
Come SHOPPING with Lil' Red Roan today!
LIKE us on facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/LittleRedRoan
No comments:
Post a Comment