Rodeo wranglers have a stomping good time
WASHINGTON TWP — In the moments before he steps into the ring, Chaz McGuire's adrenaline begins to rush.
He has been wrestling steer on his family farm in Harrisville since his youth, but the one he would be facing off at the North Washington Rodeo would be different and unfamiliar to him.
Once the gates open, McGuire has minutes to subdue the steer and impress the judges as well as the audience.
“I'm a little more nervous,” McGuire said. “There are a lot of variables.”
The North Washington Rodeo continued Tuesday night, with events including bareback bronc riding, rig and saddle riding and steer wrangling.
Dave Hazlet, rodeo committee chair and president of the North Washington Volunteer Fire Department, said the event is a huge fund raiser for the department.“It's a major event for the department,” Hazlet said. “Without it last year, it hurt us.”The event raises money through admission fees to the rodeo, as well as participant entry fees. Hazlet said the rodeo was the biggest east of Mississippi, and that's thanks to the cash prizes up for grabs from the competitions.Participants could win thousands of dollars from the rodeo, which attracts competitors from all over the country.“We do this to try to not have to get real jobs,” said Job Dunlavey, a bareback bronc rider from northern Illinois. “The money brings us in.”Dunlavey said bareback riding is the most physically demanding event at the rodeo, and he expected the event would be hotly competitive.Luckily, he and another Illinois competitor, Stetson Bierman, compete in rodeos multiple times a week throughout the summer, giving them plenty of practice.“We go to 80 to 90 rodeos a year,” Bierman said. “Tomorrow we'll be back in Illinois for another.”Hazlet said he expects the rodeo to be widely attended each day it is open. The same events start at 8 p.m. each day, but different competitors enter every time.This keeps this kind of event fresh day by day.“Lots of people come,” he said. “I have been to a bunch of rodeos this year, and they are packing in to watch.”
Tension mounted in between bouts, and each time silence was broken only when the pen gate opened, releasing a stomping animal. All eyes locked on the dirt ring for the wrangling, which lasted about 10 seconds a round.McGuire thought not only of how much money he could win, but how exciting his minute of wrangling would be.While it didn't go as well as he initially planned, the thrill of the competition still hit him.“It's an adrenaline rush,” he said. “The money being part of it makes you want it even more.”
