LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
A7
Rawlins loops in fans with fi ery performance
Trick roper wows
fans at Chief
Joseph Days
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — The best ath-
letes often have the imple-
ment of their respective
sports in their hands from a
very young age.
That adage rings true
for trick ropers, too.
Loop Rawlins, who
wowed the thousands of
fans who attended Chief
Joseph Days late last
month with his rope-spin-
ning, whip-cracking, and
gun-twirling routine, had a
rope in hand while he was
still in elementary school.
“I’ve been performing
for about 21 years, since
I was about 14. I started
trick roping, spinning my
fi rst rope when I was about
8,” he said.
The 35-year-old Raw-
lins said a love of the
Western culture and cow-
boys kicked off what has
become a career entertain-
ing fans across the coun-
try. The Tucson, Arizona,
native and resident is often
performing at rodeos, fairs
or halftime of NBA games,
to name a few.
His, he said, is more of
a “surprise act” rather than
the headline performance
— a facet he enjoys.
“(S)o if I do a thing at
a country music festival,
I’ll (go) right before a big
act, even though nobody
knows my name like (they
do) Toby Keith or what-
ever,” he said. “They’ll
throw me in an event, cor-
porate events, NBA half-
time shows. It’s kind of
unexpected, and I kind of
like being like that, like a
dark horse.”
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Loop Rawlins puts his own spin on the phrase “hot foot” during the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo.
Loop Rawlins twirls a fl aming lariat around himself at the
Chief Joseph Days Rodeo on Thursday, July 29, 2021.
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Loop Rawlins performs with a fl aming lariat during Chief Joseph Day on Thursday, July 29, 2021.
Starting off
Rawlins said he had to
try trick roping when he
saw it done as a side gig
for members of the Tucson,
Arizona, Boys Chorus. He
joined the chorus for the
ropes, but ditched within a
year and continued practic-
ing rope spinning.
“It was kind of like a
fun hobby. I remember tak-
ing the rope to school and
trying to spin it to impress
people, and no one was
impressed,” he said. “They
were like, ‘Yeah, whatever
dude.’ I just kept going
with it.”
What pushed Rawlins to
go further was seeing per-
formers at a Wild West arts
club in Las Vegas while he
was part of a trick-roping
group that formed from the
boys chorus.
“I was really inspired
when I saw some of the
pros do it. It was crazy,” he
said.
He worked and out-
paced everyone in the
group, and by 14 was per-
forming on stage solo in
front of an audience.
“I don’t remember the
fi rst show exactly, but I
remember everyone star-
ing at me, bleachers full
of people, just in front of
me, maybe 200 people,” he
said. “I had my little rou-
tine, but everything was
just foreign to me. I sort of
grew there as a performer.”
The teenager grew into
the role, and more ele-
ments were added as he
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Loop Rawlins balances a gun during a performance at the
Chief Joseph Days Rodeo.
went along: ropes, whips,
fi rearms, even fl aming
lariats.
“That came when I
was about 19,” he said.
“Nobody really made it
famous, but I thought it
was cool because it adds
that danger element and a
visual element, which rop-
ing doesn’t really have a
danger element.”
On stage
His show done during
the four nights of the Chief
Joseph Days Rodeo was
about 8-9 minutes in length.
But he does do longer shows
up to about 30 minutes that
have additional elements,
audience participation and
more.
“There’s more parts,
there’s a couple audience
interactions,” he said. “I
teach someone how to crack
a whip, so there are some
humorous moments, and I
have a little bit of banter I
do with the gun spinning,
and like 3 minutes of show-
ing diff erent holstering tech-
niques, diff erent kinds of
tricks, inject a little comedy
there — stuff like that for
certain shows.”
The Chief Joseph Days
routine featured him spin-
ning, tossing and balanc-
ing a pair of real revolvers;
demonstrating process with
a lariat as he twirled it at
high speed, jumped through
it, rolled it over his cowboy
hat and more; cracking one,
then two whips repeatedly
— which, done fast enough,
resembled the sound of a
locomotive; whipping a
fl ower in half as he held it
in his mouth; lighting a lar-
iat on fi re, dancing around it
while he twirled it just above
the deck, then laying down
while spinning it just inches
above him; and fi nishing
with the “cowboy wedding
ring” with him standing 10
feet up on a ladder, spinning
a lariat that featured 70 feet
of rope.
Rawlins, who is married
and has a daughter and son,
said his family members are
fans of the performance.
“They think it’s cool.
When my wife fi rst saw
my show she thought it was
unique,” he said. “She’s
really
supportive.
My
daughter really loves the
creative (element).”
In the two decades of per-
forming, he has done thou-
sands of shows. He spent
time performing with Cirque
du Soleil from 2009-12, and
was on America’s Got Talent
in 2014, reaching the quar-
terfi nals that season.
He spoke highly of his
time in Joseph, saying he
and his son, who made the
trip with him, were fre-
quentl visitors at Wallowa
Lake.
“Everyone’s been awe-
some. There hasn’t been
a mean person out there,”
he said. “Everyone’s been
super nice and accommodat-
ing. The lake’s very beauti-
ful. Everyone seems relaxed
here — doesn’t seem
uptight. We were on the lake
hanging out, it felt nice and
free.”
He said fans have come
to him inspired by the act
and wanting to pursue it. His
message to them?
“It’s basically if it gets
hard, don’t give up. That’s
the main thing,” he said.
“I’ve had a couple kids that
got into it. It doesn’t take
months, it takes years. It’s a
diffi cult skill. A lot of instant
gratifi cation these days with
people. It takes a lot of work,
a lot of repetition. It gets
frustrating, even out there.
I’ve been doing this long,
there are still things that are
hard to do.”
We have your
Summertime gear!
E
Ed Staub & Sons
Energy Community Service.
201 East Hwy 82
Enterprise, OR • 541-426-0320
Not just propane!