PRORODEO Sports News - August 9, 2024

PRORODEO SPOTLIGHT

Ty Stockton photo The Caldwell Night Rodeo is one of the largest and longest-running annual events in Canyon County. The rodeo draws in excess of 45,000 fans.

Caldwell Night Rodeo set to celebrate 100th anniversary Centennial

BY ALEX DODD T he Caldwell Night Rodeo in Idaho nearly folded in the 1960s.

“So, we’ve never had another movie star or anything else since that point. It’s just been a straight, pure country rodeo.” The change in strategy paid off and from Aug. 13 to 17, the Caldwell Night Rodeo will celebrate its 100th anniversary. “It’s going to be fun. Around town, we’ve already had some events to push it out in front of people and let them know that our anniversary is coming up,” Betts said. “At this point, I’m sitting here with bated breath to get the show on the road.” Canyon County is a rodeo country. The second-most populous county in Idaho features two of the most exciting events of the summer run the Caldwell Night Rodeo and the Snake River Stampede in Nampa, Idaho. The two events draw from the same base and are separated by less than ten miles, but the crowds have their own unique flavor. “We have a lot of rural, rancher-type clientele that come here,”

As a result of hard times, the committee opted to host country music superstar Patti Page for a concert to draw a bigger crowd in 1965. But it wasn’t in the cards. The rodeo had just moved to a new venue, and the grounds were already wet when a torrential downpour let loose. “That was in the day when you didn’t have pre-sold tickets, so everything was sold at the gate,” general manager Gene Betts told the ProRodeo Sports News . “At the end of the night, fans didn’t show up because of the rain, and Patti Page got paid. And that was about it.” The setback caused the Caldwell Night Rodeo to file for bankruptcy, and the committee did some soul-searching. “I don’t know who it was that decided it, but our new motto became ‘the Caldwell Night Rodeo where the cowboys are the stars,’” Betts said.

ProRodeo Sports News 8/9/2024

ProRodeo.com

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