Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Landon Moran gets bucked off a sheep during mutton bustin' action on June 26 at the Freedom Rodeo in Basin City.
After missing his bulldoggin' attempt, a steer leaps over Wylie Karas, of Zillah, during Friday night's Freedom Rodeo performance in Basin City.
BASIN CITY — Thousands of rodeo fans turned out June 25-26 to watch the second Freedom Rodeo.
Temperatures neared 100 degrees at performance time Friday night and topped 105 degrees at the start of Saturday's rodeo.
To keep cool, several fans put on canopies on the rim of the arena, while at least one family brought a toddler wading pool and filled it with water.
In addition to regular events, the Freedom Rodeo had a large field of young competitors in mutton bustin', calf riding, a calf scramble, and a chicken scramble. Adults took to the arena for two rounds of wild cow milking each night.
Competitors came from across the Pacific Northwest, as well as from as far away as Arizona, Oklahoma, and Hawaii.
Registered Whitman County area competitors included Andy Hennigar, of Colfax, competing in team roping, and Sydney Berquist, of LaCrosse, racing barrels and breakaway roping. And from just across the border near Palouse, Amber Alsterlund, of Potlatch, Idaho, competed in barrel racing.
They didn't place for money. Their times and scores were not available.
In the two days of rodeo, not one cowboy completed a qualified bull ride, and only a couple managed broncs.
Jake Olson, of Silverdale, had the only qualified bareback ride, scoring 63 points and taking home the $1,500 purse.
In saddle bronc, up-and-coming cowboy Clay Buchert, of Tonasket, held on for the only qualified ride. He claimed $1,300 on his 67-point ride.
In tie-down roping, Nathan Clawson, of Olympia, led competitors with a 9.6-second run, good enough for $ 1,280.
Break-away roper Makenly Davis, of Pendleton, Ore., made short work of her competition, out-pacing second place by nearly fourth-tenths of a second. Her run of 2.22 seconds was good for $1,450.
Ryan Bothum traveled from his hometown of Checotah, Okla., to Basin City to compete in steer wrestling, also called bulldogging. Diving from his horse and grabbing his steer by the horns, he wrestled it to the ground in 4.6 seconds, earning $1,000.
The fastest team ropers in the field this year were Jack Fischer, of Ellensburg, and Brent Falon, of Yakima. The header and heeler combination lassoed their prey in 4.5 seconds to earn $1,173.
Omak's Krista Marchand was the fastest competitor in barrels, completing the cloverleaf pattern in 17.50 seconds to take home $1,653. Marchand added another $250 in prize money by finishing sixth in break-away roping in a time of 3.40 seconds.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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