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CPRD: Now
it's time to play through
University will
build an outdoor amphitheater
City of Newberg
gives water an excellent grade
Revisiting a
piece of World War II history
| Rodeo upends St.
Paul |
Thousands travel to the small town to witness the annual
Fourth of July tradition |
By Gunnar Olson, Newberg Graphic
reporter
E-mail Gunnar at golson@eaglenewspapers.com |
Rodeo is an addiction.
A family goes once and
returns to the same rodeo year after year to watch the clown. A young man rides a bull the
first time and can’t get enough of the adrenaline rush. An old man who rode one bull
too many knows the danger and wouldn’t ride one again. Even knowing what he does he
still loves coming out to the chutes and seeing himself in the young men riding today.
The reasons were many for visiting St. Paul this Fourth of July weekend, as
well as for the 69 before it. Most all of them began with, “For the rodeo.”
The 70th annual St. Paul Rodeo this weekend drew a record crowd of more than
43,000 people, according to Kevin Smith, secretary for the rodeo association. Smith
credited good weather and the holiday falling on the weekend for breaking the previous
record of 42,500, set about five years ago.
The rodeo’s pull was stronger on some than on others, as was apparent
Friday night talking with people behind the chutes, in the stands, among vendors and in
the Tack Room. But whatever their reason for attending or their level of interest,
everyone said pretty much the same thing: They’ll be coming back for more.
A man wearing a clean white cowboy hat and a VIP pass around his neck sat
perched on a white, metal fence behind the chutes. His name was Ross Price. He came from
Queensland, Australia. He said he planned his vacation in the states to start with the St.
Paul Rodeo.
“It’s hard to kick the habit once you’ve been a cowboy,”
said Price, 42.
He was 20 years old when he came to the United States in 1983 to try his
spurs on American broncos. He said there’s more money to be won at U.S. rodeos than
at Australian rodeos. St. Paul’s was among his first rodeos in the states.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but I ended up rodeo-ing with Billy
Smith, who ends up running the thing,” he said.
Bill Smith is the president of the St. Paul Rodeo Association. The two competed in the
same event. Price said they “buddied up” at a different rodeo later that year.
When asked about Price, Bill Smith smiled. “He said he came from
Australia especially for this rodeo.”
Price reunited with Gary Wilmes, as well. Wilmes is a St. Paul native who was
also riding bareback in the St. Paul Rodeo that year. He was behind the chutes with Price.
Wilmes said he saw himself in the young riders today. Asked if he wanted to
be out there again, he said, “No. I’m 51.”
Local A.J. Ward milled around the chutes, helping where he could. He is a
stocky young man with a round face and infectious smile. Born in Yamhill and raised in
Newberg, Ward graduated in 1996 from St. Paul High School.
He rode bulls as a hobby from 1996 to 2003. He broke his back riding and
spent seven months in a wheelchair. Still, he had to pause before saying he wouldn’t
ride again.
The adrenaline rush of riding bulls is unlike any other, he said, not even
cliff driving or fighting fires. Ward is a volunteer firefighter for the Dundee Fire
Department.
“Fighting fire is fun and a rush,” he said. “But there’s
nothing like riding a bull.”
Ward said that the first time you ride a bull you remember getting on and
getting off, and nothing in between. Only after a 100 rides or so does a rider start to
comprehend what he’s doing, his brain slowing down the world around him.
“Before that you just hang on,” he said.
Ward still dreams of making it as a bull fighter. Their job is to protect the
rider, which often means getting in the face of a bucking bull, yelling and screaming and
waving.
Jenny Berkey, 22, of Amity, sat in the stands with friends and family.
“We heard about it, and just decided to come one year,” she said.
Her family has come back every year since. They particularly like the clown.
G-4 Kettle Corn was one of the vendors. Owner Gary Gorbett of Molalla said
the rodeo wasn’t his biggest moneymaker of the year, but he’s come back seven
years in a row because he can count on a crowd and the volunteers are friendly. He gives
away smoothies and kettle corn to the volunteers.
“If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here,” he said.
Bareback rider Lee Lantz sat on a bench in the Tack Room. The Tack Room is
the rodeo’s bar for the weekend and was standing-room-only at 9:30. People shouted to
hear one another. His eyes looked tired but alert. His drink looked like cola.
Lantz, 25, of Molalla, said he’d been riding since he was 8. That night
he’d scored 74 out of a possible 100 points, not good enough to win any money. But he
said he was doing pretty good that year. It was his seventh time competing at the St. Paul
Rodeo.
“It’s one of my favorite rodeos of the year,” he said,
crediting the crowd and the good stock.
Beside him sat his girlfriend, Breona Graper, 22, of Canby. She came to watch
Lantz, but also to support clients. She is part of the advertising team at country radio
station 99.5 The Wolf that does the ads for the St. Paul Rodeo.
Maggie Corbett, 21, sat next to the couple. She said she works in Chicago as
an actress; she recently had a small part in “Stranger Than Fiction” with Will
Ferrell and Dustin Hoffman. She was in Oregon visiting Graper and followed her to the
rodeo. It was her first ever rodeo, and that was enough to hook her.
“It’s such a great mixture of energy and sports,” she said.
“I’m loving it. I’m definitely coming back.” |
|
From July 6,
2005, Newberg Graphic
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