Grande Ronde Rodeo 2021 flyer

Go! staff

LA GRANDE — Two nights of rodeo action come to town Friday and Saturday, Aug. 13 and 14, at the Grande Ronde Rodeo, an ICA Prime Rodeo with local events.

Each night kicks off at 6 p.m. with mutton busting for tough youngsters up to age 8 with a weight limit of 60 pounds, and junior bull riding, featuring ages 8-14 brave enough to get atop a buckin’ bull.

The main event begins at 7 p.m. The action includes barrel racing and team roping by local cowboys and cowgirls, young and old.

The rodeo is at Mavericks Arena in La Grande, 3608 N. Second St., next to the Union County Fairgrounds. The Mavericks Riding Club will offer concessions for hungry and thirsty rodeo fans.

After a lull of many years without a local rodeo, the Grande Ronde Rodeo’s inaugural event took place at La Grande’s Mavericks Arena in August 2017.

The arena has been the site of the Junior Mavericks Rodeo for several years, and was home for the brief existence of the KCMB Buckout, a bull riding event that ended after 2015.

But aside from those events, Bonnie Eckley-Rasmussen, who helped spur the process of bringing a rodeo back, said in a 2017 press release there hadn’t been an amateur rodeo in La Grande for close to three decades. Rasmussen, of Burns and a member of the Idaho Cowboy Association, believed it was time to bring a rodeo back to town.

The 2017 two-day rodeo event was a success, setting the foundation for future shows.

“One (goal) is by the time that show ends, I want the contestants and the crowd wondering what the date is for next year because they want to be here,” Eckley-Rasmussen said at the time. “We strive to put on a show that is enough action-packed and moving with the crowd engaged that they have a good time. … From our standpoint we’re pretty darn happy with the attendance.”

The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t derail the momentum Grande Ronde Rodeo gathered from the 2017 event forward. This summer’s show promises to be a return of old-fashioned rodeo entertainment, up close and personal in the historic Mavericks Arena.

Tickets are $12, or $7 for ages 5-12. Purchase at the gate or online at tristaterodeoco.ticketleap.com/grande-ronde-rodeo-2021.