November 5, 2009

Rodeo gets another year — at least

By Kathy Ursprung
The Chronicle

     The Fort Dalles Rodeo Association is anticipating at least one more year in Milt Tumilson Arena and, if possible, many more to come.
     “We are initiating a real strong movement toward getting the property bought,” said Jake Grossmiller, a rodeo association director; however, he said the effort is still in its infancy.
     Grossmiller also announced that the Fort Dalles Pro Rodeo had earned several awards from the Northwest Pro Rodeo Association (NPRA). The rodeo joined the NPRA circuit this year after some 25 years with the Pro-Rodeo Cowboys Association.
     “We made a huge decision to drop the PRCA affiliation and affiliate with NPRA,” Grossmiller said. “We did that because of declining contestant count.      With the PRCA, we were the lowest added-money rodeo of 22 held on our weekend. And the closest PRCA rodeos to us were in Salinas, Calif., and Caldwell, Idaho. We were off the beaten path and didn’t get a lot of PRCA cowboys.”
     The rodeo was, however, getting a lot of NPRA cowboys as entries.
     “We made that decision with the idea that it would improve our contestant count and give the spectators a much better show,” Grossmiller said, echoing the announcement made at the time.
     The move appears to have worked. The Fort Dalles Pro Rodeo increased its contestant count from 225 to 525 this year. Fort Dalles was also recognized as the best new rodeo of the NPRA rodeos at the organization’s annual convention and banquet, held Oct. 24 in at the state fairgrounds in Salem. It also won best rodeo award for rodeos with more than $900 added per event.
     “And the barrel racers voted it as having the best barrel racing ground of all the NPRA rodeos,” Grossmiller said.
     Other local rodeos were also honored at the event. The Wasco County Fair rodeo received the award as the best fair rodeo under $500 added. The Klickitat County Fair in Goldendale received the award as the best fair rodeo over $500 added. The Cleveland Pioneer Picnic at Bickleton won the award for best independent rodeo over $500 added.
     Grossmiller attended the event with association President Wally Wolf, Rodeo Queen Amanda Hunter, director Barbara Pizzola, who is in charge of the Dare to Wear Pink program, director Fred Fahrni and newly elected director Bodie Rose.
     In addition to the Dare to Wear Pink program, which Fort Dalles has participated in for several years, the rodeo also is working with the NPRA to establish a cowboy crisis fund for cowboys who get injured or have a catastrophic problam with their family. The cowboys can apply for financial assistance and receive up to $500 from the fund.
     The crisis fund is being funded through the annual Fort Dalles Days golf tournament held the Friday of rodeo week. The tournament raised $4,000, which will be used to set up the fund next spring.
     Rodeo directors will be meeting this Sunday at the Fort Dalles Riders Club for their annual planning retreat to prepare for next year’s rodeo.
     “We were really pleased with this year’s rodeo,” Grossmiller said. “I think by what we’re hearing from the people who attended, we got a good, positive result. I think we’re headed in the right direction.”