We usually see at least one small regional rodeo in Montana every year. Normally, it’s the one at the 320 Guest Ranch during the Fourth of July holiday, but, this year, we managed to miss that one.
Giant Rib Roast
I like the small regionals. It’s not an all-day event, you see semi-professionals riding semi-tired animals, and they usually have an event for the kids, clowns, beer, and hot-dogs.
So, the year, the Yellowstone Club decided to host a rodeo. It was in conjunction with a member/guest golf event that went on this morning amidst rain, wind, and cold… This is the coldest summer I’ve experienced out here in the last 12 years… lots of cold, wet, weather… Mr. Gore?…
In the parking area behind the Camp YC pad, they brought in a bunch of dirt, hay, and fencing and built a rodeo arena, complete with bleachers. Fun.
The night started at the Camp YC pad. They had the fire pit going with a couple of enormous rib roasts BBQing away. These were essentially a series of tomahawk steaks with frenched rib bones sticking out at least a foot or so from the roast.
They also threw a couple of giant salmon on wooden sticks over the fire and had a vat of bubbling grease to deep-fry whole chickens in.
Rodeo, was, of course the theme of the evening. So, everyone came out in their finest Stetsons and cowboy boots to gnaw on rib bones and slurp baked beans and chew on corn-on-the-cob.
Fun BBQ… When I first arrived, Sarah P. asked me if I’d be interested in dragging a steer by a rope… Huh?!? Of course! She said I needed a partner, so, I grabbed John’s Brother-in-law who was a pretty big fella and already well on his way to inebriation.
After dinner, we all mosied over to the arena and watched a little bare-back riding, bronc riding, team roping, and barrel racing. It was a fun evening. Bitter cold, but, they had a few fires going to keep us warm between events.
For one of the comic relief segments, they asked for volunteers. Yours Truly is always game on volunteering… So, I raised my hand along with two others knowing full well that it would be some form of public humiliation.
They marched the three of us out to the middle of the arena and had us face the audience. I was, of course, in the middle. We were then blindfolded and told, at first, that they would release a bull into the arena and that we needed to catch it and grab the $50 bill that was tied between the horns…
Then, the story changed… It was going to be a banana eating contest. All three of us blindfolded and facing the audience… The clown/MC handed us each three bananas and gave an “on your mark, get set, go!”…
Having a gut full of prime rib, chicken, and baked beans, I had a little trouble getting through three bananas… I sure did my best though… At the end, of course, the other two were standing behind me with their blindfolds off and I was the only one “competing”.
Lesson: If you don’t know who the sucker in the group is, it’s probably you.
After a few more events, they brought kids from the audience out. It was the Mutton Breaking competition. These 5-10 year old kids would go into one of the gates, get mounted on a sheep, and release… It was so funny I had tears during parts of it. Kids hanging on for dear life as the sheep came running out into the middle of the arena. Some of the smaller kids simply wrestled the sheep by the neck to the ground. Funny…
After some more team roping came the Steer Drag… There were 6 teams of 2. The object was to drag an unwilling bull to one end of the arena, around a barrel, and then to tag home base… Sounds easy enough…
To start the event, there was a Calcutta auction where people in the audience could bid on teams that they thought would win. The winning team would win the pot.
I an ornery and determined man… By the time we were starting, Spencer, my partner was barely able to talk due to his level of intoxication… it’s all good…
We grabbed the rope, the gate flew open, and we started pulling… I’m a pretty strong guy, and Spencer is bigger than me. We got the bull to the barrel in a hurry. Almost around the barrel, it changed its mind… I had to move up to the bull and force it around the barrel, unwilling as it was.
Most of the other teams were tangled in knots by now… Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one team standing alone. The were on the far side of the arena trying desperately to get their bull to home base. Struggling, falling over… I HATE losing…
I shifted into low gear and started moving the bull. Spencer fell in the dirt. I dragged Spencer and the bull faster and faster until….
VICTORY!!!
We won the steer-pull competition… The announcer exclaimed on the PA system “You gotta be kidding! Banana Guy won?!?”.
Huffing and puffing, with my hands hurting from the plastic, team-roping rope and cold air, I did my victory dance and congratulated Loren for betting on the winning team.
Bull riding followed with the night getting colder and colder before we called it a night.
It was fun, nobody got hurt, and at least one person won a little extra cash. Fun night…
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