A Fourth of July celebration in Tooele Valley would not be complete without a rodeo sponsored by the Tooele Bit & Spur Riding Club. There are rodeos in Utah that started prior to the first Bit & Spur Rodeo back in 1945, but none have run like clockwork year-after-year like the Bit & Spur.

“I think the most remarkable thing about the rodeo is that it has run continuously every year,” said rodeo chairman Jim Harrell. “There is a rodeo in Tremonton which is older, but it has not run every year. Even during wartime, the Bit & Spur was held. From the beginning, it has been a first-class rodeo and for several years it was a sanctioned PRCA rodeo.”

The rodeo was held at the city rodeo grounds in its early years and now has progressed in size to its current home at the Deseret Peak Complex. This year, for the first time, the rodeo will be sanctioned by the Rocky Mountain Professional Rodeo Association.

“This should be one of the best rodeos we’ve had in the past 10 years,” said Bit & Spur president Cody James. “It will certainly be the most contestants we have had with 280 cowboys and cowgirls competing.”

Harrell also said the rodeo should be one of the finest in its history.

“We are bringing back steer wrestling to be included with saddle bronc, bareback bronc, bull riding, calf roping, team roping, barrel racing and breakaway roping,” he said. All the events will be held on both Friday and Saturday nights.

Two other RMPRA rodeos are slated for this holiday weekend, but the entry list for the Tooele rodeo dwarfs those at Salina and Mount Pleasant.

“I think there are a few factors why they want to come here. We’ll have good stock for one thing with Broken Heart Rodeo Company, and the arena is one of the best in the state, plus the pay out will be good,” Harrell said.

Some of the talented cowboys who have signed up include PRCA Wilderness Circuit team roping champions Brian Winn and Brian Roundy and Wilderness Circuit calf roping champion Justin Hodgeson. Also competing will be Greg Bennet. He won the prestigious Bob Feist Invitational for team roping in Reno in 1992.

Other top competitors include two-time Utah high school champion bull rider Tim Bingham, state champ bareback rider Chase Pope and state champ saddle bronc rider Spencer Wright.

The RMPRA all-around champ from last year, Hutch Haslem will be showing his skills at the rodeo along with last year’s Bit & Spur saddle bronc champ Kendall Anderson. Local cowboy Darrel Sagers will compete along with RMPRA barrel racing champion Lynette Clyde.

Friday night will include a hide racing event which includes teams comprised of two cowboys. One cowboy on horseback, with a hide tied to his saddle horn and dragging behind on the ground, gallops down to a cowboy standing by a barrel at the opposite end of the arena. The horse-less cowboy jumps on the hide and rides back to the finish line.

On Saturday night there will be wild cow milking, which also includes teams of two cowboys. All the teams and an equal amount of cows are turned loose in the arena and the teams try to collect at least a drop of milk in a container. The team that can accomplish the feat in the fastest time is the winner.

Each night the rodeo will begin with mutton bustin’ at 7 p.m. followed by rodeo action at 8 p.m. Fireworks will cap the rodeo on Saturday night around 10 p.m.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com