Rodeo News & Notes Week of August 29

Courtesy PRCA


Mary Walker, the wife of 1991 World Champion Steer Wrestler Byron Walker, is making steady progress from the broken hip she suffered when her horse fell and landed on her while competing in barrel racing at the Crosby (Texas) Fair & Rodeo in June. Mary underwent 10 hours of surgery and is still facing a lengthy period of rehabilitation, but has recently gotten back on horseback.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I don’t do it for the fame, it’s what I enjoy doing. It’s what I put my heart and soul into. I love it. So, I don’t need any thanks or pats on the back. When I walk out of the arena, I know if I did a good job or not, and that’s what matters to me.”


– Bullfighter Darrell Diefenbach, a 10-time selection for the Wrangler NFR, telling the Idaho Press-Tribune how he views his craft.


The 4th Annual Wrangler Gold Buckle Gala will honor Shawn Davis as a Legend of ProRodeo to kick off two weeks of festivities associated with the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Davis, a three-time world champion saddle bronc rider and a member of the inaugural class of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979, has been general manager of the Wrangler NFR since 1986. The gala is scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 28 in the Grand Ballroom of the South Point Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. There will be silent and live auctions, dinner, dancing and entertainment from vocalist Susie Dobbs. Tickets go on sale Oct. 1, and profits will benefit the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy in Colorado Springs, Colo. For more information, visit www.prorodeohalloffame.com.


ProRodeoLive.com will air live coverage of the Seminole Hard Rock Xtreme Bulls Tour Finale on Sept. 3 from Ellensburg, Wash., and the final day of the Ellensburg Rodeo on Sept. 5. Steve Kenyon will lead the webcast coverage, joined by Clint Corey, Wade Wheatley and Freya Ford.


The 16-day Rodeo Austin (Texas) pumped $68.8 million into the local economy this year, a 26-percent increase from the 2008 event, according to an economic impact study released Aug. 24. The study by the firm TXP also found that attendance at the rodeo increased 87 percent over the last decade. “This significant growth translates into greater economic activity and tax revenue for the city of Austin and Travis County,” the rodeo said in a news release. “Over the past 11 years, non-local spending due to Rodeo Austin has generated $14.2 million in tax revenue for the City of Austin and $1.8 million in tax revenue for Travis County.”


The Aug. 18-20 Yellowstone Stampede in Billings, Mont., helped MontanaFair 2011 approach record revenue for the eight-day event with $1.7 million. Preliminary figures from the Aug. 19-20 Davis County PRCA Rodeo in Farmington, Utah, show a nine-percent bump in fair attendance from a year ago to more than 45,000 and attendance at the Aug. 15-16 Dakota Stampede in Aberdeen, S.D., drew its largest crowds in six years.


An anonymous area resident has donated $3 million so that the Spanish Fork (Utah) Fiesta Days Rodeo can replace its aging wood and steel stands with a new structure that will accommodate 2,000 more seats in Lance Money Arena. One of the stipulations is that the work be done in time for next year’s July rodeo dates. The other? That the donor remains anonymous.


A pair of PRCA contestants, saddle bronc rider Shawn Eng and team roper Larry Patterson, will share the head coaching duties for the Blue Mountain Community College rodeo team in Pendleton, Ore. “I think we’re one of the first schools that I know of that has gone to this co-head coach (system),” Eng told the East Oregonian newspaper. “Hopefully, it can help us draw some these timed event and roughstock competitors, knowing we have a specialized coach for each.”