Rodeo de Santa Fe saddles success with growth

Mary Borgen marks time by rodeos, not a calendar. So, anything that happens in July is the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz. If it occurs in June, it’s the Rodeo de Santa Fe. Somehow, Borgen, the general manager of the Turquoise circuit of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, and her cast of rodeo friends put it together that she has participated in the rodeo — usually as a timer — for 20 years. In that time, she has seen how the Rodeo de Santa Fe, now in its 66th iteration, has grown to be a valuable asset on the Turquoise circuit schedule — one of 32 PRCA sanctioned events that encompasses New Mexico, Arizona and southern Colorado. “They are always trying to improve and make the rodeo better and more fun,” Borgen said. Which explains why the rodeo introduced miniature bull riding, in which competitors from ages 8-14 ride smaller, younger bulls, to its lineup this year. The Rodeo de Santa Fe board of directors brought in the Navy Band Southwest from San Diego to perform at the rodeo parade and during the pre-rodeo events. Next year, a new set of grandstands will be introduced to the Santa Fe Rodeo Grounds. All of these improvements — both slight and grand — helped the rodeo set an attendance record in 2014. For rodeo president Jim Butler, he and the board’s goal is to balance providing entertainment for its ticket holders with a quality rodeo that attracts elite-level cowboys as well as those weekend warriors who simply want to keep in touch with a sport they so dearly love. “I’ve had people tell me, ‘I wish you could put on a basic, old-fashioned rodeo,’ ” Butler said. “But you can’t do that. I tell people we are in show business battling for entertainment dollars from a lot of different sources. And there is more and more to battle with every year.” Still, the rodeo has walked the fine line of entertainment and competition, and the reward is in the caliber of cowboys who compete at the rodeo. While many participants are veterans of the Turquoise circuit, which Borgen said was developed in the 1970s as a way to let cowboys who don’t compete for a living a chance to do so on their schedule, the Rodeo de Santa Fe entertains some of the best competitors in the country and the world. Butler has seen the likes of Joe Beaver, an eight-time world champion (three-time all-around champion and five times in tie-down roping) and fellow world champions Taos Muncy, Trevor Brazile and J.W. Harris explode from the Santa Fe Rodeo Grounds chutes and give crowds their money’s worth. “Any time you are in your 66th year and the second largest rodeo in the state, that helps,” Butler said. “Anytime you bring in the quality of contestants we bring in, people pay attention.”...more