Rodeo Is a Family Tradition

Yippee ki-yay time is here again. And for Rodeo de Santa Fe President Jim Butler, it couldn't have come soon enough. “We started planning for this thing a month after last year's rodeo — so we've been at it for a while,” he said. “This is a job that you have to love rodeo to do. It has to come from the heart.” Rodeo is more than that for the Butlers; it's in their blood. Jim's grandfather, Roy, was one of the founding fathers of the Rodeo de Santa Fe and, he said, while some may have doubted that the event would ever make it to its 10th anniversary — let alone its 60th — Jim, 48, said he always had faith. “I was at this rodeo since I was in diapers,” he said. “I saw my granddad work day and night to keep this thing going, so I knew what I had to do.” The recipe for the rodeo's longevity? That's simple, Butler said. “It's through the dedication of a lot of people that got us to 60 years,” he said. More specifically: Take one part marketing and word of mouth, add two parts hard work, then sprinkle in top-name riders such as this year's competitors, ropers Trevor Brazile and Joe Beaver, and rough stock riders Billy Etbauer and B.J. Schumacher, and there you have it. But, Butler added, over the years, a few more ingredients have been added to the mix — elements the founding fathers may not have envisioned. “Like I told the (Rodeo de Santa Fe board of directors), rodeo isn't rodeo anymore — it's entertainment,” Butler said. “I'd like nothing more than put together an old-fashion strictly rodeo. But you can't survive like that. “You've got to have your specialty acts that appeal to a broad range of people. In today's environment, where you have so much out there to do, it doesn't matter how good the competitors are. Your goal is to get butts in the seats to keep this thing going.”...AlbqJournal(subscription)