Post DMB: A Stop in Rodeo City

On our way back to Seattle from The Gorge, the four of us had one more stop together: the Labor Day closing round of the Ellensburg Rodeo. We more or less stumbled into this experience on recommendation from Jenna's parents and bought tickets since it was timed perfectly with the end of the Dave Matthews concert.

Ellensburg is really centered around this rodeo, a Labor Day annual event since the 1920s. The small town thrives on this event every year, and world-ranked cowboys come to compete for tens of thousands in prize money in several events.

The local Safeway's soda display

It was a complete cultural turn-around from the Dave Matthews concert, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. We got to see a variety of events, including horse- and bull-riding, steer roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing, and a strange (unofficial) event in which teams try to restrain and milk wild cows. The beginning of the rodeo was an extensive parade of pageantry, including countless people on horses riding around and numerous tributes to farmers and the USA. The invocation was preceded with a 5-minute diatribe about how despite what Mr. Obama and the media say, Jesus was watching over the rodeo, and praying to him was the right and legal thing to do.

The rodeo arena

The entire experience was great, and it was neat that the rodeo is part of the Kittitas County Fair, so we were able to eat there and see the diverse collection of 4-H animals being shown. Overall, it was a great stop on our way back to Seattle and such an interesting contrast to where we had come from.