SPRINGDALE -- "I think we're ready," David Dodd said Monday.

Dodd, a member of the Rodeo of the Ozarks board and chairman of the Grounds Committee, has spent 30 years fixing, painting, working dirt in the arena and doing other random jobs, the same way men and women of Springdale have spent their last 70 summers.

The Rodeo of the Ozarks opens tonight, with Mutton Bustin' action at 6:30 p.m. Rodeo competition, sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, starts at 7:30 p.m.

This marks the 70th Rodeo of the Ozarks.

"Springdale had traditionally hosted a large celebration to observe the Fourth of July throughout the 20th century," reads a history of the rodeo written by Kim Allen Scott on the occasion of the 50th anniversary in 1994. " ... World War II was rapidly drawing to a close, and patriotism along the home front reached its zenith that summer."

"In the spring of 1945, two construction workers from Oklahoma -- Paul Bond and T.W. (Bill) Kelley -- came to Springdale to work on a remodeling project for Walter Watkins of the Welch's Grape Juice Co.," the story continues. "Bond and Kelly were rodeo promoters when they weren't working construction, and they approached Watkins with the idea of staging an event in Springdale later that summer. Watkins decided to pass along the idea to Dempsy Letsch and Thurman 'Shorty' Parsons, joint owners of a large feed store and livestock facility east of the town on Emma Avenue."

The men climbed aboard for a ride that has lasted long past the eight seconds required to qualify a cowboy on the back of a bucking bronc. They built a temporary arena in a lot next to the sale barn that year and a more permanent one the next, also at the site of today's structures.

The Chamber of Commerce and merchants caught the excitement and sponsored a 50-car "caravan," with horses and "Doc" Boone's Hillbilly Band, to travel to other towns in Northwest Arkansas to promote the rodeo. This tradition lasted several years, as did business people dressing in Western garb and decorating their businesses in the same theme.

John Gladden Jr., son of early board member John Gladden Sr., recalled a beard-growing contest. "And you had to wear a cowboy hat and boots," he said. "If you didn't, you were put in jail, and you either paid a fine or got thrown in a stock tank for a swim."

Pat Hutter, a member of the rodeo board and daughter of Shorty Parsons, remembered the first rodeo as a "Wild West Show" -- but it was a rodeo, she said. "That's just what they called them."

Her family would ride horses from their home on today's Parsons Road for the parade, then camp and sleep on the ground near the arena. Hutter earned the Miss Rodeo of the Ozarks crown, and competed in barrel racing at the annual event.

"And that parade the first year, it was just a scramble," she said. "There wasn't any organization to it. And a bull got loose, and they had to chase it down."

Today's two rodeo parades carry on the tradition, with anyone welcome to enter.

Hutter recalled that everything surrounding the grounds was dirt, including Emma Avenue. In an early aerial picture of the permanent stadium built the next year, the Rodeo Community Center, Springdale Municipal Airport and Northwest Technical Institute are missing. The population of Springdale was about 4,500.

The rodeo board hired Floyd Watts as the rodeo's sound man in the early 1950s. "He drove a big trailer and van," Gladden recalled. "And when he got to town, he'd drive around and play music real loud -- Bob Wills, Hank Williams ... And when he got to the rodeo grounds, he'd play that music all day, every day, and if you were working out there, you enjoyed it."

Gladden remembered Ditman Mitchell, a rodeo announcer in the 1950s and 1960s.

"He did two Wild West shows, did two tours in Europe and went broke twice," Gladden said. "He made millions -- well, thousands back then -- and gave it all away. If he had $1 in his pocket, and you needed it, he'd give it to you."

Gladden recalled Mitchell giving the "shirt off his back" -- literally -- to someone, then going to his trailer for another shirt.

Gladden named cowboys who competed in Springdale: Jim Shoulders, "Freckles" Brown, Larry Mahan, all Hall of Fame cowboys.

"The cowboys were rough and tough," Gladden said. "They would talk and drink whiskey. They were cowboys. Now they are professional athletes -- they rodeoed in college, got an education and they keep themselves in good shape."

At age 13, Gladden joined the Springdale Quadrille, a horseback square-dance team, the grandparent of today's Rodeo of the Ozarks Rounders.

"My dad was the coach," he said. "Cotton Clem was the caller. There was a boy and girl for each position. We traveled all over Northwest Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri to perform. We always wore chaps and a hat."

Steve Smith, rodeo board member, recalled his first rodeo in 1984. He came to Springdale with the plan to own a Chevrolet dealership.

"I'd gotten a ticket behind the chutes, under the tin roof," he said of the stadium. "Jim Robken and the Hog Wild Band sat up there playing. I thought it was the coolest thing, with live music."

"I remember coming into town and seeing all those flags and the people dressed up with all that Western stuff -- the whole community was involved. I was not part of the community, but I knew something was going on. It was a smaller town, but it was a bigger deal to the small town."

Jerry Biazo, rodeo board president, saw the rodeo from many different sides. His dad drove a car in the 1957 parade, and young Jerry rode with him. Later, Biazo worked as a photographer for The Springdale News and took pictures of the rodeo, the queens and more. For many years now, he has sweated alongside other volunteers to get the grounds ready for the rodeo.

"I loved it all!" Biazo said.

NW News on 07/02/2014