Prediction: event could grow large

Ridge Riders President George Kohout thinks a new event the club is planning could become as big or bigger than the annual Colorama Rodeo in May.

The new “ranch rodeos” planned for June 30 and Sept. 22 will bring a lot of people into town, Kohout said. Organized around skills actually used today by ranchers, the events will feature teams of four, and each of those contestants will likely bring friends and family to watch, he said.

“There’s been so much response, we’ve even had people from Arizona call up,” he noted. “We’re real excited.”

The group had planned on limiting entries to 20 teams, but is considering expanding to 24 or 25, Kohout said.

Speaking at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Pepper Jack’s Restaurant Thursday, Kohout said another new event at the Colorama Rodeo should attract some unlikely rodeo contestants — local business people.

The new “chute dogging” event will pit teams of two against each other, five at a time. The teams will win by catching and wrestling down a 600-pound steer or cow.

Kohout encouraged the group to build a sign to honor Shane Proctor, the world champion bull rider in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, before April, when the native Grand Coulee man will return with several top professionals to put on what has become his annual bull riding clinic for locals in Nespelem.

“I really think that sign ought to be a big priority,” he said, noting that Proctor still lists Grand Coulee as home, even though he now lives in North Carolina.