Colorado Rodeo’s – A Night at the Rodeo Should Be On Your Bucket List
Colorado Rodeo cowgirls and cowboys are riding stronger than ever. Here’s where to see them and why you should!
By Lisa Blake
The July sun makes its slow descent as a sea of cowboy hats trickles into the stands. A rodeo clown swipes the last bit of crimson paint on his animated face and the scent of freshly tilled dirt and restless livestock mingles with wafts of popcorn and smoky barbecue. It’s Saturday night at the Steamboat Springs Pro Rodeo and the excited energy is thick.
“There’s a lot of work that goes into making it look easy,” says the voice of the Steamboat Rodeo, John Shipley. “When I started announcing, I’d do two hours of research for every hour of performance. You get into it, the adrenaline hits and I’m on. It’s nonstop.”
For many folks, Shipley says, the Steamboat summer series is their first exposure to competitions like barrel racing, steer wrestling and the ever-popular calf scramble—a giggle-inducing event where kids from the audience run around the arena attempting to pull a pink ribbon off of a calf’s tail.
Shipley moved to Steamboat in 1982 and began entering weekend rodeo competitions. The now veteran announcer caught the rodeo bug when he decided that, at the ripe age of 28 (most cowboys start when they’re 14), he was going to start riding bareback horses. In 1983, he picked up a microphone for the first time as a last-minute rodeo announcer fill-in.
With that, a career was born. Shipley has announced in all 12 rodeo circuits across the U.S. and says there are amateur “show-deos” and then there are pro rodeos. Running since 1927, Steamboat’s 21-performance Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association-sanctioned summer series is the real deal.
“Rodeo is the original American sport,” Shipley says. “It came from the cattle drives that are unique to our western heritage. For Steamboat, I think it’s a tremendously important tradition. Steamboat was a ranch town before it was a ski town.”
A Lifelong Community
Ninety miles down the road in Silverthorne, 17-year-old Ashley Smith is polishing a rodeo career she’s been shaping since her first competition at age five. The Summit High School senior is looking happily ahead to a summer of Colorado Pro Rodeo Association competitions. She’ll travel the state and beyond, giving it her all in barrel racing and team roping jackpots. Smith, whose mom says has been on horseback since infancy, has competed in every event over the years—barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, breakaway roping, team roping, you name it and she’s probably tried it.
“What drew me to the sport of rodeo is the lifestyle, the community and, of course, my love for horses,” Smith says. “I truly have never met a community as strong as the rodeo industry and don’t believe anything will ever compare to it.”
For Smith, competing has helped her build lifelong connections and support teams. Though the sport is extremely time consuming and requires an elevated level of commitment, the dedicated teen feels an immense amount of gratitude for her time in the arena.
“I have been so incredibly lucky to compete in this sport,” she says. “Rodeo is such a rewarding sport that takes such a tremendous amount of time and effort, but the successes and even the lessons learned through failure make it all worth it.”
All in the Family
Whitney Simmons Lee was introduced to rodeo at a very young age. She and her brother were so inspired by their father’s team roping and calf roping talents, they both went all the way through college rodeo and onto the pro circuit.
Simmons Lee, now 29 and mother to a little girl, is the Colorado State University Rodeo Club Head Coach. The current club roster hosts 10 competing members and a total of 21 club members, meeting weekly and across several practices each week for all events. The CSU Rodeo Club competes within the Central Rocky Mountain region for the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association with 10 rodeos broken up between fall and spring semesters.
“I will play a small part in their career as cowboys and cowgirls, but it means a lot getting to be a part of their story,” says Simmons Lee.
Coaches help competitors with horsemanship, fine tuning skills and learning completely new skills from the ground up, while building character and work ethic in and out of the arena. The current CSU program is working to grow its competing numbers and draw more multi-event athletes to the sport.
“As a college coach, watching your athletes develop is such a privilege. They are the building block of any program, and the coaches are the foundation in which they stand,” Simmons Lee says. “When they work together, it is a truly powerful and inspirational journey.”
Coach, announcer, rider, roper or cheering fan, the Colorado rodeo circuit never fails to ignite a sense of grit and togetherness. It’s a slice of America with roots as deep as cattle drives and campfires and it’s as raw, real and rowdy as ever.
Colorado Rodeo’s – Events Not to Miss
Colorado’s mountain towns are filled with Rodeo’s and we have a full calendar of listings for you to discover. In the meantime here are few that we have rounded up for your to consider:
Top of the World Rodeo
Cripple Creek
Snowmass Rodeo
Snowmass Village
Steamboat Pro Rodeo Series
Steamboat Springs
The Greeley Stampede Rodeo Series
Greeley
Rooftop Rodeo
Estes Park
Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo
Colorado Springs
Douglas County Fair & Rodeo
Castle Rock
The Colorado State Fair & Rodeo
Pueblo
See All of Colorado’s Rodeos and Mountain Town Special Events – CLICK HERE
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