BELLE FOURCHE—With the 107th Black Hills Roundup less than two weeks away, plans are coming together for the biggest celebration yet, marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.
The entries to the four PRCA rodeos closed June 9, and top professional rodeo athletes are preparing to compete in the Black Hills Roundup extravaganza. This year in Team Roping and Calf Roping, each contestant will be up two times in four days. “PRCA told us we had to have a two-header this year, so we’re gonna have a two-header—these cowboys are going to have to rope twice,” explained Bill Eastman, Roundup chairman.
The Breakaway roping has around 125 ladies signed up to compete at the Roundup Rodeo. To keep the performances moving along, there will be ten breakaway ropers in each rodeo with 80 of them roping in slack. “We love our breakaway ropers. We have a lot of successful breakaway ropers right here in our local tri-state area, so we want to make sure that we have breakaway roping for sure,” said Eastman.
There will be a lot of barrel racers running through the Roundup Arena. Over 100 can-chasers signed up to compete in the rodeos held over the Fourth of July.
For the rough stock, the rodeo will be full of top riders, but the draw is still underway. However Championship Pro Rodeo will be bringing in their top horses and bulls in the next week or so.
“We really encourage people to come out and enjoy the Fourth of July with us, whether they can come to a rodeo performance—three evening performances with fireworks on the second and third—and the Fourth of July is an afternoon matinee at 3 p.m.,” Eastman said. “Come and hang out with us! On Ranch Rodeo night, the Black Hills Roundup Ag Committee is putting on a free barbecue.”
If you enjoy watching professional cowboys and cowgirls compete, the slack may be where you want to go! “Our slack starts at 8 a.m. every morning, there’ll be slack on the first, second, and third—they’re free! That would be a good time to come check out the Mercantile,” said Eastman.
The events that run in slack are: Wednesday is Steer Tripping, Thursday is women’s slack with barrel racing and breakaway roping, and Friday is men’s slack day.
This year in the Mercantile they will have a special Black Hills Roundup poster featuring PRCA Barrel Racer Lisa Lockhart for sale.
The Black Hills Roundup Royalty competition is set for June 29, with coronation before the Ranch Rodeo on June 30. It is not too late to sign up for competition with a late fee. There are great prizes and the opportunity to represent the award-winning Black Hills Roundup.
The Black Hills Roundup committee is made up of seven board members. It takes an army of volunteers to put on the multiday event. “It’s huge! It’s history! It’s something that we’re all ultimately proud of being involved in, because it’s part of history. We don’t want the wheels to fall off on our time. We all have tremendous investment in this,” said Eastman.
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