Rodeo sets records for attendance

With a hunger for getting out built up among rodeo fans, the first one in the state since pandemic lockdown set attendance records and put Grand Coulee on the national rodeo map.

Ridge Riders President George Kohout said Tuesday he'd watched The Cowboy Channel's TV segment on last weekend's Colorama Rodeo twice and "just about teared up a little bit."

Friday night's attendance at the Colorama Rodeo "set a record, and Saturday night's blew that all to hell," Kohout said.

That took some doing.

The Ridge Riders worked for weeks to ready the arena and built a new parking lot to try to get parking off the roadside.

Nice gesture, but futile. Cars on Saturday night were parked on both sides of Alcan Road from Cardinal Road to the Grand Coulee-Almira highway, Kohout said.

Some 219 entrants from as far away as Texas and Ontario competed in the rodeo, which also drew back home rodeo great Shane Proctor, his wife and trick rider Haley Proctor, and their daughter Coulee.

With their first rodeo as a Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association-sanctioned event, the Ridge Riders took in over $25,000 at the gate for the event that paid out over $19,000 to contestants, filled the stands, the Rattlesnake Saloon, and even the grassy hillside above it all with fans.

They gave a hefty cheer when announcer Zane Parker introduced it as the first rodeo in the state for over a year.

"I'm still kind of grinnin'" Kohout said Tuesday. "I just absolutely can't believe it. It was a darn good show."