Othello Fair & Rodeo coming Wednesday
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 months AGO
A car spurts flame at the 2023 Othello Demolition Derby. The 2025 demo derby, Othello Rodeo and Othello Fair are this week.
FILE PHOTO
A rider tries to stay on the back of a bull during the Othello Rodeo. The rodeo and Othello Fair are this week.
Livestock competitors work the arena at the 2023 Othello Fair. Othello Fair 2025 starts Wednesday.
A horsemanship competitor leads her horse through its paces at the 2023 Othello Fair. The fair returns Wednesday.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | September 8, 2025 3:30 AM
‘We may not be the biggest, but we definitely are the friendliest’
- Becky Flint, Othello Fair board member
OTHELLO — Longtime volunteer Becky Flint said there’s just something about the Othello Fair.
“We may not be the biggest, but we definitely are the friendliest,” she said.
The fair starts Wednesday and lasts through Saturday. The gates open at 10 a.m. Wednesday, but competition starts at 9 a.m. The fairgrounds, which is also the site of the Othello Rodeo, is located at 831 S. Reynolds Road.
Rodeo events kick off Wednesday, said board member Kristy Rattray, with the annual demolition derby at the rodeo grounds. Time trials start at 5:30 p.m., with racing following the drivers meeting. That includes the Bill Bagwell Memorial Winners Race, which honors a longtime demo derby contributor.
Few changes to the fair event schedule are planned for 2025, Flint said. Some new food vendors have been added but most of the community favorites will be back.
“It’s still a classic country fair,” she said.
Fair board treasurer Tammy Everett said the number of exhibitor entries indicates there’s a lot of interest for 2025.
“We should be pretty close to breaking and last year, and last was a phenomenal year,” Everett said.
Livestock market classes begin Wednesday, with fitting and showing competition Thursday. The annual livestock sale will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the sale arena.
The annual Othello Fair parade steps down Othello’s Main Street at 10 a.m. Saturday. Flint is the 2025 grand marshal.
“I was so shocked,” she said.
She’s being recognized for her longtime volunteer efforts.
“This is actually my 18th fair,” she said.
Along with the livestock competitions, art and hobby exhibits and fair food, entertainment is scheduled for the two stages and around the grounds all week. Fair organizers have added a petting zoo for 2025. And of course there’s a carnival.
The rodeo is scheduled for Friday and Saturday nights, with the first events at 8 p.m. It’s the rodeo’s 76th performance.
“Seventy-five years of western tradition in a small town,” Rattray said.
The wild cow ride starts off each rodeo performance, and Rattray said it lives up to its name.
“We have teams of volunteers – crazy young men and women – who decide they’re going to saddle and ride a wild cow,” Rattray said.
The cows are heifers whose calves have just been weaned, so they’re pretty cranky, she said.
The event schedule includes the classics, saddle and bareback broncs, bull riding, steer wrestling, team roping, barrel racing, tiedown and breakaway roping.
A new Miss Rodeo Othello and court will be selected Saturday night; the queen contestants are Valeria Moreno and Jillian Brevier. Saturday night wraps up with a dance in the beer garden following the rodeo performance. The beer garden seating has been upgraded, she said.
The rodeo board is working on arena upgrades, which include new bucking chutes in 2025, Rattray said.
“This was a major investment and will allow our contestants either a left- or right-handed chute, giving our contestants more flexibility,” she said.
A rider tries to stay on the back of a bull during the Othello Rodeo. The rodeo and Othello Fair are this week.
Livestock competitors work the arena at the 2023 Othello Fair. Othello Fair 2025 starts Wednesday.
A horsemanship competitor leads her horse through its paces at the 2023 Othello Fair. The fair returns Wednesday.ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
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