‘That Famous Preston Night Rodeo’ returns for 82nd year

It’s 82 years and counting for “That Famous Preston Night Rodeo.”

The rodeo is back July 27 through July 29 for its 82nd year.

The rodeo is recognized as the first night rodeo in the world. It started in 1934 and has been going every year except one year during World War II when all the cowboys were at war.

Every year, rodeo weekend draws a crowd of around 50,000 – that’s about eight times the city’s population.

“It’s actually huge for the businesses,” said Allyson Wadsworth, a Preston city council member. “Not only the hotels but also the eateries there’s a lot of reunions – class reunions along with family vacations too are all usually centered around this time of year and it’s a huge economic boost for the city.”

“We have more people come home for the rodeo than come home for Christmas,” said Kris Beckstead, chair of the rodeo committee.

The rodeo sells around 15,000 seats at an average of ten dollars per ticket. With three nights of rodeo, that’s at least $45,000 from ticket sales alone. Supporting events like the parade and sidewalk sales, along with things like class reunions draw the rest of the crowd to town for rodeo weekend.

“When money from an event like this comes into the community, it’s turned over seven and a half times,” Beckstead said. “So I think that makes this probably a million dollar event for this little community.”

But it’s more than just the money that gives Preston a boost – it’s also the reputation of a great experience.

“The cowboys that come say they just love our arena,” Beckstead said. “They love our dirt, they love the intimacy of the audience, the way we’ve got this set up.”

“The crowd that comes up is a little higher elevation wise in the stands and it feels like as a contestant that they’re right there with you,” said Judd Austin, a local steer wrestler who competes in rodeos all across the U.S. “In fact on the timed event chutes they’re right up to where you take your horse in and it feels like they’re a part of the action.”

Cowboys have ranked Preston as the “Large Rodeo of the Year” three times. Bringing in national acts and a lot of big-time cowboys, a small community puts on a large show.

“The Preston rodeo stands out as really a rowdy crowd of the local people who are really pretty knowledgeable about rodeo and everybody turns out to support it every night and there’s always a full crowd on hand and it really gets the cowboys excited about it,” Austin said.

The rodeo runs Thursday through Saturday night, each night with a theme. Thursday night is “tough enough to wear pink” in honor of cancer awareness. Friday is Patriot Night and Saturday is Cowboy Appreciation Night.

Last year, Beckstead said the rodeo sold out all three nights. She said this year, Friday and Saturday nights are already sold out before the week began.