CHOTEAU — Residents of Choteau and surrounding areas flocked to the Choteau Fairgrounds to attend the annual Choteau Ranch Rodeo.
The Ranch Rodeo consisted of four or five-person teams and ran in two sections. The first section was team roping, and the second section was the "scramble," which consisted of three events such as team doctoring, steer mugging, and trailer loading with an 8-minute time limit.
Now in its 21st year, competitors of the rodeo say the rodeo is becoming increasingly popular.
Competitor Ben Neal stated, "I feel like every year, the crowd gets bigger and bigger. It brings a lot of people together. We have a lot of repeat teams every year, and then we also get some new teams every year, and it just gets bigger and better every year."
Neal added that given the high level of competition, it's all about building camaraderie and relationships amongst fellow area ranchers.
His teammate Jere Long said discussed the preparation put into getting ready for this year's rodeo.
Long said, "We usually go to Ben's house. One of our other teammates or somebody else's house. We rope steers, and just prepare ourselves physically that way, and mentally we just show up on the day we have the Ranch Rodeo, and prepare mentally to go out there and try to win that whole day.
Long also mentioned that the energy that the crowd brings adds to the intensity of the rodeo.
"I think that all the people in the crowd, when they start cheering and getting everybody excited, it gets the contestants excited, it gets the horses excited, and everything just goes well."
Other action events consisted of a Kid Candy Bar Race along with Kid Steer Riding.
There were also various auctions that took place during the event. The Choteau Ranch Rodeo takes place each year between the end of August and beginning of September at the American Legion Rodeo Fairgrounds.
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