Young cowboys and cowgirls set to compete at annual Chelan Jr. Rodeo

CHELAN – Young rodeo enthusiasts and their families are gearing up for the annual Chelan Jr. Rodeo on Saturday, July 27 and 28. 

The rodeo is put on by the Chelan Rustlers Saddle Club and draws contestants from all over the state and parts of Idaho.

This year's competition will include a Saturday night rodeo for older competitors and a Sunday daytime rodeo for younger levels.

"On Saturday, we're gonna run our intermediates and our seniors on a Saturday night show," said Jodie Southwick, vice president of the Chelan Rustlers Saddle Club and co-chair of the Lake Chelan Pro Rodeo. 

"It's something different," she said. "We're giving it a shot just to kind of get the older kids to get to rodeo underneath the lights and give them kind of the feel of what it's going to be in the next step. And then on Sunday morning, we'll run the LPs all the way through the juniors and hopefully beat the heat a little bit."

The event is for high school seniors all the way down to two-year-olds. Youth will compete in events from mutton bustin' to bareback riding, roping to barrel racing and much more.

Competitors are placed in the following categories: 

• Little people: 2-5 years 
• Pee-wee: 6-8 years 
• Juniors: 9-12 
• Intermediate: 12-14 years 
• Senior: 15-18 years 

The Chelan Rustlers Saddle Club has been putting on the junior rodeo for more than 15 years.

"These kids rodeo really early on, and then they carry on through their high school years and then head for the PRCA and all that stuff," Southwick said.

Youth compete year-round at junior rodeos throughout the northwest region and even parts of Canada before arriving in Chelan, where they will test their skills in one or more events.

Southwick feels it is important for the youth to have a local rodeo to compete in.

"Well, the rodeo portion of it, that's heritage," she said. "That's how we all got to where we're at now. It wasn't for cowboys coming through, we wouldn't have anything."

"These are kids that grow up on ranches and farms, which again, you know, that's what feeds us," she said. "And this is all the skills that they need to work on a ranch. So it gives them a place to go hone their skills, win a little money, get some socialization in and Chelan's a great place to come. I mean, when they're not rodeoing, they can hit the slidewaters, hit the lake, go do all the touristy things.

The Chelan Rustlers Saddle Club, established in 1953, continues its tradition of sponsoring both professional and junior rodeos in the Chelan Valley.

The Chelan Jr. Rodeo is part of the Caribou Trails and Eastern Washington Junior Rodeo Associations, which coordinate junior rodeos in central and eastern Washington and set competition standards.

The Jr. Rodeo is free to attend. The Seniors and Intermediates Rodeo will start at 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 27, and the Little People, Pee-Wees, and Juniors Rodeo will start at 9 a.m. on Sunday, July 28.

Quinn Propst: 509-731-3590 or quinn@ward.media.