Days of '56 rodeo attracts record crowds
PSN 7/5/06
by Kristen M. White
The Day of '56 PRCA Rodeo is probably the biggest thing to happen in Ponca, Neb., each year. In a town of about a 1,000 people, the rodeo draws more than twice that many spectators each night.
This year, 38th edition of the rodeo, held June 23-24, was no different. Chairman Chris Bostwick said about 2,100 people attended the Friday performance, and the stands were near its 2,600-person capacity on Saturday.
"We draw from about a 40-mile radius from us," Bostwick said. "It's just something we've promoted and worked on for 38 years, and we keep improving it. It's always nice, clean family entertainment."
For the past several years, the rodeo committee has worked on improvements at the rodeo grounds. The contribution this year was a continuous seven-foot-high steel fence around the arena. Bostwick said he received "a nice compliment" when the contractor, Bob Barnes, and announcer Kelly Kenney, said they've been to a lot of rodeos and the fence was one of the best they'd seen.
The rodeo is accompanied by a parade which featured more than 100 entries this year, as well as special entertainment during the rodeo.
"We have the Arena Race, which is done by a local saddle club," Bostwick said. "They're 10 man teams, and they race against each other in a baton race. It's a real crowd-pleaser in this area, and we've been doing this since 1972.
The number of competitors at the Days of '56 rodeo was up this year, too, Bostwick said. About 250 cowboys and cowgirls visited Ponca, likely the largest attendance in the rodeo's history, he said.
"We like to think it's partly because we started a hospitality room for the cowboys last year," Bostwick said. "A lot of them said they remembered that and came back because the hospitality was so great. And I think the gas thing, being so expensive, I think maybe guys enter more events when they can. I don't really know what draws them here, they just come."
The crowd was treated to close competition in many events, including bareback riding and saddle bronc riding, where there were ties for first place.
In bareback riding, John Addison and Tigh Anderberg both spurred their way to 81-point rides to take home winning checks of $432 each. In saddle bronc riding, Ty Manke and Danny Martin Made 76-point rides to tie for the win.
In bull riding, only two cowboys managed to hang on for the eight-second whistle, with Josh Call Coming out victorious with his 81-point ride. Bart Miller had the other qualified ride, a 65.
Tie-down roper Scotty Shelton was the quickest to catch and tie in 9.4 seconds. In wrestling, Jordan Wagner stopped the clock in 4.0 seconds for the rodeo's biggest check of $1,144.
Team ropers Mark Brockmueller and Dani Leslie combined for a 6.2-second catch to narrowly win the event.