The 88-year-old St. Paul Rodeo will be inducted into the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association Hall of Fame this summer. Since 1935, the tiny Oregon town in Marion County has hosted tens of thousands of rodeo fans over the Independence Day holiday.
The first rodeo was held at the city baseball field, which today is the site of a 10,000-seat rodeo arena.
Kevin Smith, vice-president and historian for the St. Paul Rodeo Association, attributes the rodeo’s longevity and success to the community of volunteers who put it on.
“The rodeo began in 1935 with eight founding directors,” Smith said. “More than half of them were from local families right here. Still today, half of our board of directors, which is up to 11 members now, are grandsons and great-grandsons of those founders.”
Smith is a true son of the St. Paul Rodeo. He likes to say he and his mother have only missed one, in 1953: “We were in the Woodburn Hospital when she was birthing me.”
His grandfather, Carl Smith, was on the founding board of directors. His father, Gene Smith, served on the board for 46 years. Smith himself has served two decades with the board. The Smith, Colman, Manegre and McKillip families are just a few who have stayed involved with the rodeo association through the generations.
Sam McKillip, president of the St. Paul Rodeo Association, carries the American flag in the grand entry at the 2021 St. Paul Rodeo. The rodeo will be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in July. Photo by Kent Soule/Hoot Creek
“I was answering rodeo telephone calls at my mom and dad’s house when I was probably six years old and our phone number was 3-9-3,” Smith said. “Most of us haven’t moved more than 15, 20 miles .. and that really has made the rodeo work.”
The nonprofit rodeo association has two paid employees and runs with the help of hundreds of volunteers. The St. Paul Rodeo Association has 450 members – impressive considering the town has a population of 425 people. Over five days in July, some 75,000 people will visit St. Paul to attend the rodeo, carnival, parade and Fourth of July fireworks.
St. Paul is the 33rd rodeo to be inducted into the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association Hall of Fame and the second in Oregon behind the Pendleton Round-up.
Other 2023 inductees include five-time world champion steer wrestler Luke Branquinho; two-time world champion saddle bronc rider Cody Wright; world champion team roper Doyle Gellerman; pickup man Kenny Clabaugh; rodeo notables Butch Knowles and Tom Feller; a bareback horse named Night Jacket; the Cowtown Rodeo in Pilesgrove, New Jersey; world champion barrel racer Sherry (Combs) Johnson; and Women’s Professional Rodeo Association standout Fay Ann Horton Leach.
Members of the St. Paul Rodeo will travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado, on July 15 for the awards ceremony at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.
This year’s St. Paul Rodeo takes place June 30 through July 4, with rodeo performances starting nightly at 7:30 p.m. and a July 4 matinee at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $20-$60 and available at stpaulrodeo.com.
— Samantha Swindler, sswindler@oregonian.com, @editorswindler