Pity the poor, patriotic American who can't enjoy the Fourth of July watching the Days of the Old West rodeo at Hailey Rodeo Arena. Can there be any better way to close out Independence Day in the USA?
Tonight, Friday, July 4 is the third of three Idaho Cowboys Association (ICA) and Intermountain Professional Rodeo Association (IMPRA) performances in the dusty Hailey arena, sponsored by the Sawtooth Rangers Riding Club.
Come as near to 7 p.m. as you can. You'll find plenty to watch and tons of folks to greet.
If it's anything like the first two held Wednesday and Thursday nights, the expected sell-out crowd is in for a treat. There will be a grand finale of "no times," cowboys landing on their rears, bad jokes, bulls kicking, ropers showing amazing skills, fancy duds, cups of suds and moments to treasure.
One such moment is when arena director Ted Uhrig slowly rides Old Glory around the stilled arena—the national anthem being sung at the time but no other sounds except for the summer mountain breeze.
If you were there at Wednesday's "Family Night," you could have seen a hilarious family event that has helped make Hailey's Days of the Old West the regional "Rodeo of the Year" for three years running.
That's mutton bustin,' where tiny kids with oversized protective helmets try to ride the sheep and usually don't even make it out of the chute.
Young Brady Dilworth was the brave first youngster trying to stay aboard Lammy Whammy for six seconds Wednesday night—and he came up crying, with the lamb shooting off on a beeline in the direction of the cheap seats.
Announcer Jason Kelly sympathized, explaining to everybody who wondered what happened to the lad in the chute, "Brady got thrown right on his chin. Right now he hates his mom and he hates his dad."
Ben Wise hung on for a moment and found himself horizontal under the sheep. Five-year-old Ethan Shoemaker, a future Sawtooth Ranger, lasted halfway to the Hitchrack on the back of Tic Hotel before eating dirt and getting a hug from Trent and Shelley Shoemaker.
Yogi Pierce slid sideways off Eat More Chicken and waved to the crowd while munching on a mouthful of pure Hailey dust. The sheep Steel Wool, Redneck's Revenge and Wooly Bully all got the best of Joshua Ward, Jesse Keefe and Stoney Meyer. Nine riders. No times.
Leave it to the girls.
Busting out of the chute with her blond locks flowing was seven-year-old Kodi Giron of Kuna. She stayed atop Buck Fever like her life depended on it, clutching the wool and taking a rapid ride straight toward the far bleachers. She was the winner, an 88-point explosion.
Kodi, one of the PeeWee Queen contestants who was slumming it with the sheep, had no further challenges before the rest of the 16 contestants came to their senses and decided it wasn't worth the trouble of getting stepped on.
Ervin Gonzalez and the sheep Say No to Cotton both went down hard like they hit a wall. Lamb Sandwich, Better Sweater and U Turn put down the best efforts of Sarah Balis, America West and Isaac Gonzalez. Even Ashton Tanner had a decent ride on Mountain Maggie before ending up flat on his back. Still, he got a high five when he made it to his feet.
Okay, moms, none of them seemed to be overly hurt.
The kids then turned the rodeo over to the cowboys and cowgirls for the rest of the evening, which roared on until nearly 11 p.m. in old Hailey Town. Don't forget, they had started the slack rodeo in the morning, about 9 a.m., before the horses and animals took a siesta in the afternoon heat.
Plain and simple, the Sawtooth Rangers and Red Eye Rodeo Co. and pick-up men J2 Brown and Jay Hogan and funny man Ed White got plenty of business done Wednesday on the first day of the 61st annual Days of the Old West, with more in store tonight.
Jerome’s Jena Bubak rides her paint horse Jake the Snake to a 2.7-second time in the breakaway roping event of Wednesday’s daytime slack rodeo performance that kicked off Hailey’s Days of the Old West rodeo.
Photo by Willy Cook
