14th-16th July: Days 97-99
Going to a rodeo was definitely on The List. Upper Peninsula Michigan is not your stereotypical location for a rodeo but we discovered that The UP Rodeo Championships were going to be held in Iron River, and so we went. This is a big weekend for a small town with 2 evenings of rodeo, market stalls, a street parade, and a series of fun runs. We had pre-booked a spot in the town camp site which was close to the town centre and only a 20 minute walk from the rodeo grounds. After arriving early afternoon on the Friday we caught the end of the market, and Nick bought raffle tickets for which the prize draw was months away. More of a donation then, really, as we will be long gone.
We walked up to the rodeo grounds at about 6pm, furnished ourselves with a beer, and started the important pre-event entertainment…people watching. There were all sorts of folks in attendance. Folks from the hills. Folks from the other side of the tracks. Folks from the cowboy fancy dress shop (or so it seemed). Actual cowboys. And then there was us. I suspect that we stood out like sore thumbs, and were being watched as much as we were watching.
The evening started with flag hoisting, national anthem playing, military personnel thanking, girls with flags on horseback galloping in synchronised circles to stirring music, and there was a clown with a tiny performing pony both in a beaten up VW Beetle. Then there was some rodeo. Men chasing and roping calves. Men with very bendy backs on very grumpy horses, some with saddles, some without. Men plucking the bendy backed men off the grumpy horses before the grumpy horses tried to kill them. Men on horses galloping after the grumpy horses (after they had plucked the bendy backed men off them) to remove the straps from around their nether regions to make them a lot less grumpy all of a sudden.
The women and girls involved in the rodeo were mainly entrants in the Miss Rodeo Queen and Miss Rodeo Princess competitions. Lots of sparkly fringed cowgirl outfits, lots of big long hair-dos, lots of fixed smiles and beauty pageant makeup. Not much getting dusty or sweaty. Those gals can really gallop fast in a circle whilst doing a ‘royal wave’ though.
We had a really fun evening. What with the beer and junk food, sunshine and drama of it all.
The next morning I decided, at the last minute, to do the 10km fun run. It was a slightly bigger affair than the Copper Harbour event, with about 20 entrants. I staggered around the course, coming in 4th from last, BUT, winning my ladies age category. I even got a medal. My glory continues.
Soon after the run came the town parade. This really was an epic. Floats large and small, good and bad, with horses and without. Lots of fire engines, police cars, tractors, lorries, wheelbarrows, people dressed up, some not. Lots of candy. And the entire population of Iron River lining the streets sat on camping chairs. We got bored after an hour and fell into a diner for coffee and brunch.
Saturday evening was rodeo again. We walked up to the grounds, in the baking heat this time and were very pleased to make it to the first cold beer. The program was much the same as the previous night, but just as fun. We spent more time wandering round and watching seeing the action from different angles. The beer and junk food was also as good. I vowed to eat some salad or vegetables the next day.
Rodeo. Check.