Crooked River Roundup kicks off with downtown cattle drive

The Wild, Wild West got a little more wild Wednesday night in Prineville. The Crooked River Roundup kicked off its 71 st year.

The rodeo officially starts Friday night, but Wednesday was about the community coming together to get ready for the next two weeks of rodeo and horse races taking place in Prineville.

The Crooked River Roundup celebrated the start of festivities in the “Cowboy Capital of Oregon” with two of cowboy’s favorite things: cattle and chili.

“We’re expecting over 1,000 today, so it just keeps on growing. It becomes more popular,” said firefighter Russ Deboodt.

Hundreds of people lined the streets to watch the cattle drive as the cows moseyed through town.

“We’re actually one of the only rodeos in the United States that actually does a cattle drive through the town,” said Crooked River Roundup Queen Kayla Vincent.

Vincent helped lead the herd down Third Street and onto Main Street as they made their way to the fairgrounds.

After the cattle came through, event-goers participated in the fourth annual chili feed. For the fourth year, the fire department won the cook-off and raised close to $700.

“It’s going to go for Jet, our canine, to get some body armor for when he’s going out helping out the community,” Deboodt said.

The celebration will continue with the rodeo, horse races and the first ever ranch saddle bronc riding event.

The new ranch saddle bronc riding will open the rodeo Friday at 7 p.m. There will also be a rodeo Saturday night at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Sunday is kid’s day, so kids get in free.

For more information. visi, www.crookedriverroundup.com