PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has rounded up horses and cattle for the rodeo at next week’s fair.
Commissioners Randy Johnson and Bill Peach voted Tuesday — with Commissioner Mark Ozias absent — to approve a $15,450 agreement with Gold Buckle Rodeo Co. to provide stock and personnel for rodeo events at the Aug. 17-20 Clallam County Fair.
Clallam County has contracted with Klickitat County-based Gold Buckle for “many, many years,” Park, Fair and Facilities Director Joel Winborn told commissioners in a July 31 work session.
“They’ve done a great job for us,” Winborn said.
Gold Buckle was the only stock contractor to submit a bid for the 2017 Clallam County Fair.
“Stock providers are very much like carnival providers,” Winborn said.
“Once you get in, you have your schedule and you repeat that annually. If you drop out of that schedule, you kind of lose your spot and you risk maybe not having a job for a particular week or a particular month for an event.”
Winborn said the Clallam County rodeo has “improved dramatically” in the past two years because of a “very gracious” private donation that increased the purse.
“We’re actually pulling in cowboys that are in fact known around the region now, so it’s a pretty big deal,” Winborn said.
The total prize money for the two-day rodeo is $19,000, $13,500 of which is sponsor-added.
Bull-riding will have a $3,000 purse; $2,000 purses will be offered for bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, breakaway roping, steer wrestling, team roping header, team roping heeler and barrel racing.
Rodeo events will be held in the grandstand arena from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19 and from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 20.
Under the terms of the agreement, Gold Buckle will provide rough stock, timed stock, pickup men, a chute boss, flank men, two bullfighters, sound equipment for announcer Lee Daggett and other necessary personnel.
In other fair-related action from Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners renewed an agreement with the Port of Port Angeles to use a portion of William R. Fairchild Memorial Airport for staging demolition derby participants.
Derby vehicles will be inspected at the airport before the popular event in the grandstand arena.
“We want to make sure that all glass and lose metal parts are removed so we don’t have that stuff carried over to the fairgrounds and left in the arena for the horses to later find and that sort of thing,” Winborn said.
“So it’s a really valuable thing for [the port] to let us do this.”
The demolition derby will begin at 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 20.
The theme for the 2017 Clallam County Fair is “Poultry in Motion.”
For information on the fair, go to www.clallam.net/Fair.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@ peninsuladailynews.com.
