2019 RODEO HANDS
Behind the scenes:
working all year long
for four days of fun
Behind the four days of bare-
back riding, steer-wrestling,
and roping fun that Farm-City
Pro Rodeo brings to Umatilla
County every August, there is
a year’s worth of work from
volunteers of all varieties.
“It takes an army to raise a
family,” said Farm-City Pro
Rodeo board member David
Bothum. “It’s the same with
putting on a rodeo.”
This year, a group of around
15 volunteers put the fi n-
ishing touches on the rodeo
grounds. From landscap-
ing and lighting, to concrete
pouring for the new Chute
4 | Farm-City Pro Rodeo 2019
Some sort cattle, and others
pull gates. Local youth will
be handling concessions and
parking to fundraise for their
sports teams.
ing to get their groove on
when the rodeo ends for the
night can head to Chute Eight
to break in the new concrete
dance fl oor.
With a team of almost 100
volunteers and nearly 50
Eight dance fl oor, there is al- sponsors, everyone has the
ways a job for someone who same mission in mind: a big-
ger celebration.
wants to help.
Bothum said that volunteers As rodeo attendees step onto
usually come once a week the grounds this year for four
during the year to prepare days of action-packed fun,
the ground, but that as the they can expect an amped-
event approaches, it turns up Family Night, with fam-
into a more intensive ordeal ily photo-ops and autographs
as tasks narrow down to the from bull riders. Those look-
fi nishing touches.
An additional score board
and some touch-ups on the
bleachers will make it easier
for audiences to track which
cowboys and cowgirls might
make it to the Wrangler Na-
tional Finals Rodeo in Las
Vegas this December.
This year’s rodeo marks the
31st year.
“We’re trying to make it bet-
ter every year,” Bothum said.
“We’ve been putting in pretty
much four or fi ve days a
week,” Bothum said.
Around 80 volunteers keep
the event afl oat during op-
erational hours by manning
gates and distributing tickets.
East Oregonian/Hermiston Herald