55th Ritzville Rodeo begins tomorrow
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 1 month AGO
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | August 28, 2025 1:43 AM
RITZVILLE — The folks watching the rodeo will sit a little more comfortably this weekend.
“We have brand-new grandstands,” said Ritzville Rodeo Board Member Julie Hartz. “We’ve been working on those all summer. Everybody has a pretty good tan that worked on them.”
Those grandstands will fill up this weekend for the 55th Ritzville Rodeo, a homegrown affair that packs lots of fun into a small area. Ritzville’s is an open rodeo, meaning that anyone can enter and it’s not part of the PRCA or NRPA circuits. The Ritzville Rodeo is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, which means some of the Friday contestants can make it to other, larger rodeos Saturday, Hartz said.
This year, there will be two different specialty acts Friday and Saturday, Hartz said. For several years, the Wild Card Trick Riders, a group of local young women, have awed the crowds with their laws-of-physics-defying riding tricks. But those ladies have a prior commitment Friday, so standing in for them will be the Wild Bunch Trick Riders. The similarity of names isn’t a coincidence; both groups were created by the McMillan family, which also supplies the animals for the rodeo. The Wild Bunch riders are the younger counterparts to the Wild Card riders, Hartz explained. The older riders will perform Saturday.
Saturday’s festivities start at 3 p.m. with the Ritzville Rodeo Queen Contest, followed by the Stick Horse Barrel Races for the children.
“We put little barrels up in the green grass in our amphitheater, so anybody can grab a stick horse and run the course,” Hartz said. “Our announcer he's on the PA, and any of the queens can come and help out and do little prizes.”
The Western Washington Mounted Shooters will give a short demonstration of horseback shooting during Saturday’s rodeo as well, Hartz said, as a precursor to their longer show Sunday, the Wheat Land Shootout.
“They weave in and out and … shoot balloons,” Hartz said. “They have different obstacle courses and they do it at speed.”
The rodeo has a beer garden both nights, according to the schedule, and Saturday night, the Desert Highway Band will perform classic country at the beer garden.
“They played here a year ago,” Hartz said. “They’re really good.”
Ritzville Rodeo
East Templin Road, Ritzville
Next to Wheat Land Communities Fairgrounds
Friday, Aug. 29 and Saturday, Aug. 30 7-9 p.m.
A member of the Wild Card Trick Riders takes a horseback stand at last year’s Ritzville Rodeo.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
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