Rodeo welcomes competitors
Here's an honest review — the announcers at the North Washington Rodeo asked a steer wrestler to show the crowd his hair after he competed Wednesday night so that they could mock its length, and he still said it's his favorite rodeo in the world.
That competitor, 27-year-old Zane Slater, grew up just a few miles from the arena. He and several family members are involved every year.
“It's our hometown rodeo,” Zane said. “Everybody knows you. Some of the rodeos you go to are 200, 300 miles away. Not here.”
His cousin, Morgan Slater, 21, of Slippery Rock, also competed Wednesday night. She competed in break-away roping.
“I've been doing it my whole life,” she said. “I could ride a horse before I could walk.”
And she agreed with Zane.
“This is my favorite rodeo, easily,” Morgan said. “It's the hometown.”
The Slaters, evidently, are not unique. Dale Yerigan, general manager of the International Professional Rodeo Association, which sanctions the event, said his organization handles about 400 rodeos.
The vast majority of the association's members are rodeo competitors, he said. Their most recent vote put the North Washington Rodeo as the fifth favorite rodeo out of all 400.
Yerigan said participants like it because there's a relatively large amount of cash to be won, and there's a high quality welcome given from locals. “They keep coming back for the hospitality,” Yerigan said.
The appeal of rodeos, he reckons, comes from their universal appeal. Children and elders can enjoy it, and modern updates like music and pyrotechnics don't take away from the sheer nostalgic novelty of it.
“It's the frontier spirit that settled the West, alive here today,” Yerigan said.Yet another Slater, this one 80-year-old Bill Slater, echoed Yerigan from his spot along the arena's fence.“I like everything about it,” Bill said. “There ain't nothing bad about it.”Wednesday night's events featured about 40 competitors, according to registration documents. The rodeo features events such as bareback bronco riding, barrel racing and tie-down roping.Not everyone on a horse aims to compete. Hannah Kohl, 18, graduated from Mars High School earlier this year and has spent her summer representing the rodeo as its queen. She smiled to crowds from atop her mother's mare named Cheyenne.Kohl competed in horse-riding, personality and appearance competitions to win the title. “My jaw hit the ground when I won,” she said.Riding in to welcome the crowd for the rodeo's first night on Tuesday was exciting, she said.“It was like, holy cow, we made it here,” Kohl said. “We all spent lots of hours in the saddle to get here.”The North Washington Rodeo continues through Saturday night at 2225 Oneida Valley Road.
