Kadoka to hold PRCA rodeo for the first time
With fond memories of attending a George Strait and Sawyer Brown concert as a high schooler, Dale Christensen is excited to bring back the Buffalo Stampede rodeo to Kadoka, South Dakota.
While the King of Country won’t likely be making an appearance, there is plenty for rodeo fans to get excited about.
While the sport of rodeo is in the genetic makeup of many Kadoka-area cowboys, this year will mark the first time the community will host its own PRCA rodeo, the Buffalo Stampede.
Christensen, an area rancher, truck driver and PRCA announcer, says the locals love rodeo and that the town has already put on a high school rodeo and a Little Britches rodeo this year.
Although this year will be the first time Kadoka will hold a pro rodeo event, there were many years through the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s that cowboys and cowgirls from around the region took part in an amateur rodeo, which was also billed the Buffalo Stampede. Christensen recalls his dad helping build the arena when he was young. “Some of my best memories are of rodeos in that arena,” he said.
Christensen said entries for the rodeo have closed, and with 110 barrel racers, 81 steer ropers, and more, they are expecting some great competition.
Most of the steer ropers who will compete in Belle Fourche’s Black Hills Roundup are entered in the Buffalo Roundup, he said.
Timed event slack will be June 24-25. Performances will be Thursday evening and Friday evening, with chuckwagon races each night. A goat roping on Saturday afternoon and a youth playday and “locals team roping” on Sunday following church round out the weekend, with several more activities going on. The weekend will also include dances, a parade, ranch rodeo and much more.
Christensen said it was just natural for the community to put on the rodeo. A local contractor, Muddy Creek, is taking care of the rough stock and subcontracting the timed event stock.
The town always puts on an all-school reunion the last weekend of June anyway so the rodeo will coincide with that.
The rodeo committee had hoped to raise the funds for new bleachers, so they had torn the old ones down, said Christensen. “We thought that would work well for social distancing, too, but it’s not really an issue anymore,” he said. Christensen said some temporary bleachers have been brought in, with tables for those who prefer to stand.
“We’re a ranching community, everyone brands together, works together, we’ve been around most everyone, and I guess it was natural to just go ahead with the event,” he said.
“We don’t have George Strait coming back,” he said, but he’s confident attendees will find plenty to enjoy throughout the five-day event.
