By Jeffrey V. Smith
Roping event at a previous Rooftop Rodeo.
The 84th annual Estes Park Rooftop Rodeo, July 6-11, continues a tradition of cowboy competitions in the picturesque mountain town that has endured more than 100 years. Rodeo week features Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events in saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, bareback bronc riding, barrel racing and bull riding along with a parade, children’s m
utton busting, calf scramble, midway activities and more.
Since 2003, the Rooftop Rodeo has been ranked as one of the five best small rodeos in the country by the PRCA. The rodeo was awarded top honors in 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2009.
The Rooftop Rodeo has its beginnings in an event held in Estes Park as early as 1908, according to the Estes Park Mountaineer. Ads in the paper announced the city’s “Frontier Days” and Independence Day celebration included a “Wild West Show” and “Broncho Busting Contest,” along with horse racing and pie eating contests.
“The very best local riders have registered for the contest, and some bad ‘outlaw’ horses are being rounded up,” an article in the Mountaineer said. “A few of the most famous riders from the near parts of Colorado and Wyoming have also agreed to ride and are bringing good bucking horses.”
The Grand Parade is always popular at the Rooftop Rodeo in Estes Park.
The event was not initially known as a rodeo since the word was not used for American cowboy sports until about 1912, and used only occasionally until the 1920s. Professional cowboys did not officially adopt the term until 1945.
By 1923, the town’s paper, now named the Estes Park Trail, referred to the annual cowboy event as a rodeo for the first time when it announced it would be the “most spectacular rodeo ever held in this part of the state.”
Estes Park’s annual rodeo became known as the Rooftop Rodeo in 1941. It was named after the town’s 7,500-foot elevation, and advertised as the highest altitude rodeo in America.
This year’s Rooftop Rodeo week kicks off, July 6, with a “great parade” through downtown Estes Park. Entries in the 10:30 a.m. event include horses, hitches, music, kids groups, old cars, rodeo queens from across the U.S., floats, rodeo clowns and the “people who make the event possible.”
Midway activities begin at 5:30 p.m. daily and include a mechanical bucking bull, face-painting, balloon animals, exciting vendors, great food, a display of Dodge trucks and more.
A “Behind the Chutes” tour is also being offered. A tour guide will explain the history of the Rooftop Rodeo and ranching in the Estes Valley and the owners of Powder River Rodeo will talk about professional rodeo and “what happens behind the chutes.” Participants will observe up close more than a million dollars worth of “top-rate” bucking broncs, bulls, steers and roping calves. A visit with the rodeo announcer, clown and cowboys are also part of the tour. There is one tour each evening at 5:45 p.m. Call 970-586-6104 to make your reservations.
The popular Rooftop Rodeo Queen’s Dance takes place at 8:30 p.m., July 10, at the Conference Center, 101 S. St. Vrain Ave. Music will be provided by the Mad Cow Posse, northern Colorado’s “best and hardest rocking country band.” Tickets are $12 per person and may be purchased by calling the Fairgrounds Office at 970-586-6104 or at the door.
Both general admission and reserved box seat tickets are available for each rodeo performance. General Admission tickets are $17 while children ages 3-11 are $5. Discounts for seniors, active military and veterans, local residents and groups are offered.
To reach the Rooftop Rodeo, take U.S. Hwy. 36 to Community Drive. Turn south to Manford Avenue. The Estes Park Fairgrounds are on the right. Call 800-443-7837 for more information.
