Thrills and Spills at Arlee July 4th Rodeo

While Rodeo-goers were taking in the pre-rodeo honoring of veterans and our freedom, the broncs waiting in the chutes grew impatient to get things going. As the announcer paid tribute to Dane Morigeau to whom this year’s rodeo was dedicated after his untimely passing, the broncs reared, snorted, and kicked the confines of the chutes. At one point during the pre-rodeo events, the sound system was temporarily lost just as a loud clap of thunder announced the arrival of a downpour that was soon to hit the rodeo grounds.

The sound system returned and the broncs and their riders took the stage. Dusty Morigeau of Kalispell won the Ranch Broncs event with a score of 84 and Charlie Lytle of Arlee won the Saddle Bronc event with a score of 79. That was in the cowboys versus cowboys competition. In the horse versus human competition, the horses clearly won as their fierce bucking threw most of the riders. Even the riders who stayed to the whistle took quite a beating.

Interspersed between the riding events—broncs, steers, and bulls-- were the timed events—tie down roping, breakaway roping, and team roping as well as barrel racing. During the tie down roping the clouds let loose with rain that challenged even the visibility but didn’t drown out the enthusiasm and competitiveness. Other cowboys and cowgirls who won their events were Matt Gutierrez with a 9.8 in tie down roping, Nichelle Marmon from St. Ignatius with a time of 3.1 sec in breakaway roping, Dallas Von Header and John Vermadahl with a time of 7.1 in team roping, Molly Fisher with a time of 14.75 in barrel racing, and Weston Grant with a score of 80 in Bull Riding.