ProRodeo Sports News - June 23, 2023

COMMITTEE

Kent Soule photo

St. Paul Rodeo From small town roots, rodeo soars to new heights BY TRACY RENCK F or decades, the St. Paul (Ore.) Rodeo has been known as one of the most unique and finest rodeos on the PRCA trail. The success of the rodeo has not gone unnoticed as the St. Paul Rodeo Committee will be inducted in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame on July 15. eighth-mile track. Four bucking chutes and a roping chute were added, and the locals went looking for stock for a rodeo to be held July 4, 1936.

“When the rodeo started, they were collecting some small fir trees from the woods and sticking them in the ground there to mark a track because we used to have more horse races and all types of races during the rodeo itself. Eventually we were trying to preserve trees in the economy here and many of the farmers here were growing shrubs. If you don’t see a St. Paul Rodeo sign in most of our rodeo shots, you will probably see one of those trees or shrubs and know where it is taken.” From those roots, the St. Paul Rodeo is going strong as ever. In 1991, the PRCA cowboys gave the St. Paul Rodeo a plaque proclaiming it the finest rodeo in the Northwest. “We are a very small town because we are close to the people here on the West side of Oregon,” Smith said. “The recent history in the area probably speaks to it just as well as anything. In 2018 and 2019, we had our increment growth and set a record both of those years. Like many rodeos we had to cancel (because of the COVID-19 pandemic). Then our governor here in Oregon decided in mid June in 2021 to open the doors the day before our Hall of Fame event, which is the night before our rodeo begins. Within two days, all our events sold out. We thought that would never happen again and 2022 it was even bigger.”

“This is fabulous,” said Kevin Smith, a member of the St. Paul Rodeo committee. “A small town with some serious roots is a good place for rodeo and we have been one of those. Half of our board is made up of grandsons and great grandsons of our rodeo in 1936. This is just a great honor for us to receive.” St. Paul, Ore., with a population of less than 450, is in the heart of the Willamette Valley, 20 miles from Salem, the state capital. According to the St. Paul Rodeo website, it was in this setting in 1935 that eight local farmers and businessmen conceived the idea for the St. Paul Rodeo. These eight originators were Bill Smith, Ray Manegre, John McKillip, Carl Smith, Maurice Smith, Jim Gooding, Ralph Butts, and Ed Unger. The City Park, a baseball diamond surrounded by scotch broom and littered with tin cans, was cleaned up and a pole fence built around a short,

ProRodeo Sports News 6/23/2023

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