In my novel Nearly Canaan, Joshua and Jaya settle into a place unlike anything they would have imagined. It’s desert, for one thing, where nearly everything has to be irrigated, for another. Quite simply, it’s a lot like Yakima, in the middle of Washington state, a place that has some fine rodeos, like the one at Ellensburg, up the canyon, or out in White Swan on the reservation.
This list started out to be the biggest ones, but I’m finding even that can be tricky, depending on the varying measures. And then there are the Best Lists, which laud smaller events like the Reno Rodeo in Nevada and the Pendleton Roundup in eastern Oregon.
So here’s a list anyway. Giddyup!
- Cheyenne Frontier Days, Wyoming
- Calgary Stampede, Alberta, Canada
- National Western Stock Show, Denver
- Ponoka Stampede, Alberta, Canada
- Fort Worth Stock Show, Texas
- La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, Tucson, Arizona
- Williams Lake Stampede, British Columbia, Canada
- Festival Western de St. Tite, Quebec, Canada
- World’s Oldest Rodeo, Prescott, Arizona
- Parker Ranch Fourth of July Rodeo, Hawaii. Oops, not North America but still in the USA.
~*~
Ever been to a real rodeo?
