Crowds treated to thrilling rodeo action

The weather was chilly, but the action was smokin' hot at the 72nd annual Sisters Rodeo.

The crowd that braved the cold and intermittent showers on Friday night saw one of the best opening-night performances in history, highlighted by eight 80-point-plus bull rides. That was a marked contrast to Wednesday night's Xtreme Bulls event, which the bulls definitely won. There were only nine qualifying rides out of 40 contestants at that first-time event.

"Those were the toughest bulls anyone had ever seen," said rodeo association board member Bonnie Malone.

Several of the bulls and cowboys stuck around through the weekend to see the tables turned. On Saturday night, Shane Proctor of Grand Coulee, Washington, turned in an astonishing 91-point ride on Quickstop to tie a 1993 arena record. Proctor's ride earned him $4,759.50.

Bull riders weren't the only record-setters. Tyrell Smith of Great Falls, Montana and Bradley Harter of Weatherford, Texas, matched an arena-record 87-point saddle bronc ride.

That's the kind of action you get when you draw the best in the sport - both cowboys and stock - with the largest purse in the nation for the weekend.

All-around cowboy honors stayed close to home, with Shane Erikson of Terrebonne pulling in $2,677.37 competing in team roping and tie-down roping. Ryle Smith of Oakdale, California, pulled in $4,775.78 in the aggregate tie-down roping to top the earnings.

The biggest money-winner of the rodeo was not a contestant, however. In what has become a Sunday afternoon tradition, an auction of rodeo poster prints and an autographed hat raised nearly $7,000 for the Sara Fisher Project in the Tough Enough to Wear Pink performance, dedicated to the battle against breast cancer.

Fans were reminded that rodeo is a tough and dangerous sport. A bronc rider suffered a concussion, a team bronc-riding contestant was flung out of the arena and shaken up, and a barrel racer sustained a knee injury after coming off her horse at Sunday's performance. Ms. Wrangler, Laura Lee Barry, was injured in a fall Saturday afternoon, and another woman suffered a broken collarbone in a trailering accident before the rodeo parade on Saturday.

The pageantry of rodeo was well-represented. Sisters Rodeo Queen Sarah Marcus led a coterie of rodeo royalty that also included Miss Rodeo Oregon, Shelby Ross, also of Sisters, and Miss Rodeo America, Mackenzie Carr of Vernonia, Oregon.

The arena itself was a star, with new bucking and roping chutes enhancing the quality of the event for the contestants.

The event is staged entirely by volunteers, who truly make Sisters Rodeo "The Biggest Little Show in the World."