PRORODEO Sports News - February 21, 2025

NEW MONEY, STORIED TRADITION COLUMBIA RIVER CIRCUIT THRIVING WITH GROWING PAYOUTS, SAME HOSPITALITY By Alex Dodd

T here’s a lot to love about the Columbia River Circuit. The circuit consists of Oregon, Washington and the Northwestern part of Idaho. It is one of 12 regions in the PRCA Circuit System, celebrat ing its 50th anniversary during the 2025 season. The Columbia River Circuit also fea tures some of the most storied events on the PRORODEO calendar and a whole lot of added money. “The members of the circuit are pret ty aggressive and work really hard to produce top-notch rodeos,” Colum bia River Circuit president Pete Thiry said. “It’s a beautiful area, and it’s got a lot of unique things that make it an easy area to promote rodeo.” The Big 4 Rodeo Association com prised of the Horse Heaven Round Up in Kennewick, Wash., Walla Walla (Wash.) Fair & Frontier Days, Lew iston (Idaho) Roundup and Pendle ton (Ore.) Round-Up headlines the Columbia River Circuit and paid out more than $1.6 Million in four weeks last season. The association also exemplifies the cooperation between rodeo commit tees that makes the circuit successful. “The smaller rodeos in the area tend to work together a lot as well,” Thiry said. “They just try to support each other, and that’s where the circuit system comes in. We have meetings and rodeos network with each other and get ideas. That helps all of us.” Longtime Columbia River Circuit

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