MOSES LAKE — The 81st Moses Lake Roundup Rodeo begins Thursday and there’s no shortage of riders. 

“We had a record number of contestant entries this year, 583, which is probably close to 60, 70 more than we had last year,” said Tyler Brown, treasurer of the Moses Lake Roundup Board. 

The rodeo follows the Agri-Service Demo Derby, which is happening today and tomorrow in the rodeo grounds at the Grant County Fairgrounds. Information on the Demo Derby and the Grant County Fair is in the Monday edition of the Columbia Basin Herald.  

All the well-known events will be represented at the Roundup: saddle bronc, bareback, team roping, breakaway roping, barrel racing and, of course, bull riding.  

“(The contestants are) all top-of-the-line guys,” Brown said. “We’re a tour series rodeo, which means that the contestants that enter our rodeo, as they place in the rodeo, they get points which go toward their standings in the PRCA at the end of the year. So then they get to go to the tour series finales, which are in Puyallup and South Dakota and that gives them an extra chance to make extra money to go to the (National Finals Rodeo) in December.” 

That setup allows a rider who may not have made it to all the rodeos to improve his standings and have a better shot at the NFR, Brown said. 

For the little buckaroos, there’s mutton bustin’, where kids 4-7 years old try to stay on top of a sheep for eight seconds. The entry fee for that is $30, which includes the child’s admission to the rodeo. 

The folks in the arena will mostly be familiar faces. Will Rasmussen is the announcer, and Ben Benavides will handle sound and scoreboard, according to the rodeo’s website. John Harrison will be this year’s clown. 

The specialty act will be trick riders Haley Proctor and Madison MacDonald. Proctor has ties to Grant County as her husband, rodeo rider Shane Proctor, grew up in Grand Coulee. MacDonald is no stranger to the Moses Lake Roundup either, Brown said. 

“They're both top-of-the-line trick riders,” he said. “They do little different acts, but they're pretty much a team. Madison will run and she'll do something, and then Haley will run and she'll do something different. Madison in the meantime is changing horses so she can do something different. It keeps the show going.” 

Returning for the second year is the Senior Slack, which will take place Friday morning. Slack is standard at rodeos where there are more contestants than can be worked into the regular evening performances, Brown explained, so they have a little extra competition. The slack starts at 8 a.m. and will probably run until about noon or 1 p.m., Rodeo Board Member Joe Ketterer said, and there’s no admission charge. Last year, Ketterer organized a trip for some folks who might not get to see the rodeo otherwise. 

“I've reached out to senior living facilities and families with seniors at home that don't want to go there late at night for the late shows (because of) the traffic, the long walk from parking, all the different crowd,” Ketterer said. “So we've had vendors come in and make sure breakfast is available. We've had volunteers, athletes at the college and other vendors come and help them to their seats, help them get food, get to the restroom so they can have a more enjoyable experience. And some of these cowboys and cowgirls that haven't been in years get to come in a safe, quiet, non-crowded environment and kind of relive the old days.” 

Last year's slack only attracted a couple of dozen seniors, but this year Ketterer arranged with three or four senior living facilities for residents and their families to attend the slack. 

“We’re branding it as the Senior Slack, (but) we’ve also reached out to different day cares, and if they have a bus, they can bring the kids too,” Ketterer said. 

As has been the case for the last several years, the price of admission to the rodeo also gets the attendee into the Grant County Fair. 

“We're just really grateful to be partners with Moses Lake Roundup,” said Grant County Fairgrounds Manager Jim McKiernan. “We've got a great working relationship with them, and we kind of both see what needs to be done.” 

“We worked on that forever with the fair, and could never really get it put together,” Brown said. “And with help from (McKiernan), we got it put together. So every day, with a rodeo ticket, you can get into the fair. That helps the families be able to afford to take their kids to the fair, as well as go to the rodeo, sometimes two or three nights.” 

    Every night of the Moses Lake Roundup opens with mutton bustin’, where the aspiring cowboys and cowgirls ride on top of sheep inside the Rodeo Arena.
  

    Bull rider Trevor Reiste of Linden, Iowa keeps his balance on top of the bull Make My Day at last year’s Moses Lake Roundup Rodeo. This year’s rodeo begins Thursday.