ProRodeo Sports News June 14th, 2019

COWBOY CHRISTMAS PREVIEW ST. PAUL RODEO St. Paul, Ore. July 2-6 stpaulrodeo.com

Even the grandstands provide a different vibe because they’re made entirely of wood. “It’s not a football- stadium look,” Smith said. “It reminds people of the OldWest and gives them the flavor of days gone by.” The biggest names in ProRodeo have made the St. Paul Rodeo part of their Cowboy Christmas run since 1936. Past St. Paul champions include ProRodeo Hall of Famer Jim Shoulders, who won the bull riding in 1948-49 and 1952, bareback riding

Cowboy Christmas is all about winning as much money as possible in a short amount of time. So savvy PRCA cowboys try to double their earnings in a single trip by competing at the St. Paul (Ore.) Rodeo and then heading 30 miles down the road to the Molalla (Ore.) Buckeroo Rodeo. “We stagger our events so cowboys can

work Molalla on the same perf,” said Bill Smith, marketing director and arena director of the St. Paul Rodeo. “We added more money to our purse ($37,400 per event in 2018), we match in the team roping with equal pay, and we just put in new chutes and new timed-event chutes, so we’re sprucing up.” In addition to a large payout, St. Paul boasts a strong stock lineup with NFR-caliber buckers frommultiple stock contractors. “We don’t want them if they’re not 20 points or better,” Smith said. “We want a riding contest, not a drawing contest, and that’s all the cowboys want.” The six rodeo performances take place in a 10,000-seat arena. Unlike most rodeo arenas, St. Paul’s is a quarter-mile circle surrounded by fir trees with a track around the edge that used to have races between rodeo events. “It’s always funny when in team roping, if you don’t spin them in front of the trees you’re out of the money,” Smith said.

The St. Paul (Ore.) Rodeo upped its total payout in 2018.

Courtesy St. Paul rodeo

in 1951-52 and ’55, and the all-around title in 1952. Last year’s St. Paul winners featured multiple cowboys who qualified for the 2018Wrangler National Finals Rodeo – steer wrestler Tyler Pearson, saddle bronc rider Chase Brooks, tie-down roper Cooper Martin and bareback rider TimO’Connell (who went on to win the world championship). St. Paul set attendance records the last three years with 51,000 people in the stands – quite an accomplishment considering the town’s size. “We’re a metropolis now with 400 people,” Smith laughed. “We had a population explosion of 50 more people.”

ProRodeo Sports News 6/14/2019

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