Guymon, OK - The Guymon (OK) Pioneer Days rodeo is marking its 76th edition in 2008, marking the Sooner State’s largest PRCA rodeo with a purse of more than $375,000 up for grabs.
Rodeo action at the Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 2nd, followed by two performances on Saturday, May 3rd at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and wraps up with the fourth round at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 4th.
A stop on the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour since its inception in 2000, the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo was voted the PRCA Large Outdoor Rodeo of the Year in 2002.
Other events in Guymon include the procession of riding clubs and mule trains, the Pioneer Day Parade and Rodeo Dances at the Elks are planned for the evenings of May 4th and May 5th. The carnival is scheduled to run from May 2nd through the 5th.
The Pioneer Days Celebration began in 1933 when city leaders wanted to hold a gathering to bring folks to town to help businesses in the midst of the Depression when Guymon was the epicenter of the Dust Bowl. Leaders chose to celebrate the first weekend in May to mark the Organic Act of May 2, 1890, which made “No Man’s Land” – the Panhandle – part of the territory of Oklahoma.
The Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo committee is bringing in a number of stock contractors, including Carr Pro Rodeo, Korkow Rodeos and Powder River Rodeo to make its event that much more exciting.
Longtime Guymon committee president Ken Stonecipher refers to his event as the “Little Rodeo That Could.” With the help of some prominent area cowboys – the Etbauer brothers and Craig Latham to name a few – the committee’s first order of business several years ago was to come up with a list of ways to make its rodeo good for the cowboys. Today, Guymon (pop. 10,000 in the state’s panhandle) is a rodeo that the best contestants can’t afford to miss.
Learn more at: http://www.guymonrodeo.com/
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