Rodeo Night

There’s a rodeo in town this weekend, and Thursday night was family night. Since the boys have never been to one, so we joined the local crowd at the county fairgrounds to watch the action!

Apparently, carnival rides go along with a rodeo, so we took a walk through the rides,

 

games,

 

and food booths.  We picked up some pulled pork and fries for dinner, and a monster bag of cotton candy to snack on during the rodeo.

The boys didn’t want to go on any rides – they’re holding out for the real thing – Cedar Point late in the summer!

 

They would rather look at the trucks that transport the rides!

 

 

I want to know how they got them lined up so perfectly straight!!

Rodeo Night is a really big deal in Cortez, and there were cowboys everywhere . . .

 

I just couldn’t resist them – these little cowboys were just too cute!!

The Rodeo Clown did a great job of entertaining the crowd between events . . . he was pretty hilarious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He really loves that horse, I guess!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found some good seats in the middle of the grandstand, and settled in to watch all of the action.

The announcer got the evening going with a patriotic country rendition of the Star Spangled Banner,

and the Rodeo Queen and Princesses made an appearance.

Then it was time for the real action to begin!

We saw bareback broncos,

 

 

(Check out this guy’s boots – I love them!)

and bull roping – both individual and team roping.

(This bull just wasn’t cooperating!)

These young cowboys were in charge of getting the bulls back in their pen!

Then it was time for some more bucking broncos . . . this time with saddles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even after the cowboy was off, some of these horses did NOT want to go back into their pen!

Next up was some fun & games with the kids . . . we had mutton busting

and stick-horse races . . .

They looked like they were having a blast out there!

(More cute cowboys and cowgirls!)

The women were up next, with the barrel racing . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and then it was time for the BIG EVENT – the bull riding!

 

The clown got ready in his barrel!

 

 

 

 

 

The bulls were pretty big animals, and they really moved – I had a harder time getting good pictures!

There weren’t many cowboys who managed to hold on for the full 8 seconds, and even after the bulls got them off their backs, they had no intention of going back into the pen!

One bull went after the cowboy,

and another went after the clown!

 

Everyone got out of the way, but it’s clear that this is a very dangerous sport!

Country folks are very patriotic, and the evening ended in a similar way to how it started.

It was a beautiful evening, and we really enjoyed our first rodeo!