Rodeo tradition

I love the rodeo. It's not so much that I love the sport of rodeo as much as I love the tradition of going to the rodeo. Today was my 31st year attending the Ellensburg Rodeo -- I have attended at least one performance each year I have been alive.

I have a few specific parts that must be included in my annual Labor Day Weekend ritual. First is the food. I always eat a barbecue beef sandwich and corn on the cob from the CMA church booth at the Kittitas County Fair. It's quite possibly the best eating of any food tent. I also buy a few Fisher Fair Scones. The little cakes with butter and raspberry jam inserted between flaky layers are so perfect that I can't resist taking home a bag full.

I love to watch the Grand Entry for the rodeo. Dozens of horses and riders lope into the arena, some carrying flags or waving regally, winding in serpentine fashon around positions set by the members of the King County Mounted Sheriff's Posse, themselves on Palomino horses and silver-clad saddles. Immediately after the Grand Entry is the National Anthem and then introductions along the track as each rodeo's royalty representative gallops along the track's stretch at lightning speed, waving to adoring fans and making sure to keep her hat on her head. Unlike royal court members for other festivals, including my own town's Apple Blossom royalty, these girls must be experts in horsemanship and riding in addition to being articulate representatives of rodeo.

I and my family have a long tradition of rodeo involvement. The Ellensurg Rodeo had its 83d year in 2005. But even before the rodeo had been created formally, the people I descended from were active in hosting rodeos at their ranches on the outskirts of Ellensburg. The Fergusons and Thomases were inducted into the Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame for that involvement and key role in helping to establish a tradition of rodeo and the entity now known as the Ellensburg Rodeo in the early 20th century.

As a child, I remember attending the shows with my grandma, Edith Thomas, who saw the rodeo each of its four days, keeping score on her daysheet in her distinctive and careful writing and pausing every now and then to smoke a cigarette. She packed a great lunch each day -- fried chicken, ham, tomatoes, cucumbers and plenty of Coca-Cola. We all loved the home cooking even better than the fair food.

As I grew into early teenage years, I sold programs each day of the show for $1.50 apiece. I made 15 cents for each program, but the bonuses at 50, 100 and 150 were where the real money could be made. For a few years I was among the top sellers who were able to attend a Seattle Mariners game courtesy of the Daily Record, the newspaper that also published the rodeo program. My brother and I were in stiff competition for program sales, and I remember one year when he took our sister, aged maybe 6, out to the street to sell. I thought that was cheap, and he was selling programs as fast as he could make change. He was also able to carry 50 programs, where I was able to tote just one bundle of 25.

And so I return to the beautiful Kittitas Valley each year with fond memories of the rodeo. It's pretty predictable -- the same corny jokes, a few surprises with uncooperative animals, maybe an injury. But I love it, and I could not imagine a Labor Day Weekend without it.

-- Seattle