4
JUNE 29�JULY 6, 2022
CULTURE & HERITAGE
CELEBRATING THE HISTORY
OF EASTERN OREGON
Celebrating the 75th Elgin Stampede Rodeo July 6-9
By Trish Yerges
Go! Magazine
ELGIN — The landmark 75th
anniversary Elgin Stampede Ro-
deo will be hosted from July 6–9,
and everyone is invited to join in
the celebration of the Western
lifestyle that ranching families
embrace and value in Northeast-
ern Oregon.
Randy Burgess, who served
as vice president for four years,
became the Stampeders’ presi-
dent last January.
“I’d like to invite everybody
to the 75th anniversary of the
Elgin Stampede,” he said. “We’re
very excited and proud to hit 75
years, so come out and enjoy the
rodeo.”
The action begins Wednes-
day, July 6, at 6 p.m. with Family
Night, an alcohol-free evening
fi lled with lots of family fun and
laughter. This program is an
all-kids rodeo where contes-
tants ranging in age from 4 to
18 compete in everything from
stick horse racing to steer riding.
Kids will also be participating in
fun events like barrel and poles,
mutton busting and goat tail
tying and untying. Admission is
free, thanks to the sponsorship
of Community Bank.
Tickets for the arena perfor-
mances for Thursday, Friday
and Saturday can be pur-
chased online or at the gate.
The gate opens at 6 p.m. and
the show starts at 7 p.m. for
those three nights.
“You have an hour to buy
your beverages and concessions
and fi nd yourself a seat for the
show,” Burgess said.
Thursday’s rodeo begins with
the queen coronation ceremony.
On the court this year are Audree
Treat of Summerville, Quincee
Zacharias of Enterprise and
Rowdy Israel of Dayville. Also
appearing at all the performanc-
es is rodeo clown Randee Munns
of Utah. He will entertain the
audience but also work to keep
riders safe.
To make the Thursday night
program even more special, the
Elgin Stampeders will honor their
late president, Ty Hallgarth, by
adding to the night’s program an
event named in his honor, for-
mally titled the Elgin Stampede
TICKETS
All advance admission ticket
sales and saddle raffl e
tickets are handled through
the court princesses at
www.elginstampede.com.
Presale admission ticket
prices are $18 for ages
13 and older and $13 for
children ages 5-12. Children
4 and younger are free.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Tanner Bradley holds on to a bucking
bull at the Elgin Stampede on
Thursday, July 8, 2021.
Bucking in the Blues Ty Hallgarth
Memorial Xtreme Bronc Riding.
The PRCA event will also include
barrel racing.
“I would like to personally
invite everybody to the Ty Hall-
garth Memorial PRCA bronc rid-
ing. It will be a very special event
to kick off our 75th anniversary,”
Burgess said. “Ty wasn’t just a
president or just a board mem-
ber, he was a personal friend of
mine.”
Purple is the color of the
night, according to the Elgin
Stampede Facebook page: “Ty
loved our purple committee
shirts, so we’ll be wearing them
in his honor. We encourage you
to wear purple, bring purple fl ags
or signs or ribbons … or do any-
thing in purple.”
For the Friday show, come
donned in pink for the traditional
“Tough Enough to Wear Pink”
night. Tough Enough to Wear
Pink is a campaign and frame-
work for rodeos and western
events to promote breast cancer
awareness and fundraising to
benefi t local communities.
Friday night’s PRCA Rodeo
includes barrel racing, steer
wrestling, team roping, tie-down
roping, bull dogging, breakaway
roping, and bareback, broncs
and bull riding.
Saturday’s downtown Elgin
parades off er more family fun.
Beginning at 10 a.m. is the Kids’
Parade, and the festive Stam-
pede Grand Parade begins at
4 p.m. This parade will be pre-
sided over by this year’s grand
marshal, Betty Lou Martin, who
has dedicated about 70 years of
her life to the smooth operation
of the annual Elgin Stampede
Rodeo and its fundraising events.
Finally, on Saturday night, the
Elgin Stampeders present PRCA
rodeo action with another en-
tertaining appearance by rodeo
clown Randee Munns.
At all performances, food
and drinks will be available for
purchase at one of two conces-
sion stands, Chute 9 and Odie’s.
Enjoy hamburgers, hot dogs,
fries, corndogs, elephant ears,
pizza and cold beverages, includ-
ing beer. This year there will not
be a dance following the rodeo
performances.