Iowa's Championship Rodeo

The roots of the Rodeo go back to “Old Soldiers Reunion,” which was started in 1889. This event had been highly successful for over three decades, but it was beginning to lose its crowds. In 1923, just as the Reunion was about to be discontinued, the American Legion decided to save the event by trying something new to draw larger crowds. The decision was to try to bring the Wild West to Sidney. It began with two local men, Henry, and Earl Tackett, who had recently arrived from Wyoming. They became Sidney’s first cowboys, and the show would feature riding bucking broncos. 
Local folks, who were well acquainted with some of the “mean” horses around the area, agreed to supply the bucking stock. The town of Sidney owned a spacious park with a small grandstand for baseball spectators, that space was turned into the rodeo arena by stretching a rope around the baseball diamond. The horses were brought into the arena, saddled, and mounted, and the Rodeo was on! Henry and Earl furnished the amusement for the entire four days for the magnificent sum of $50.00

Riding bucking broncos proved to be a popular sport with the public. The Legion put together what would become a very successful Rodeo for the next two decades. In 1925, a carload of small, sandhill, ponies were obtained. Corrals were built in the far corner of the arena, and riders were paid $5 for each ride. The creation of the Rodeo did not come without growing pains. There was no instruction book on how to establish a Rodeo. Most of the sponsors were new at the “bronco busting” game. They learned through their mistakes and by making noble attempts to improve the Rodeo. The identified problems after the 1925 show included:
• The horses were too small
• The riders did not all please the public with their style of riding
• The corral was too far from the spectators
• The arena was unfenced
• More chutes were needed to handle more stock so more cowboys could be accommodated
• More events needed to be added
• Plus, a list of numerous small things

All the issues stated needed to be settled for the following year’s Rodeo. The biggest problem soon became finances. The Legion Post had only membership dues as a source of income, and most of this money was expended in running the activities of the post. A weekly dance held by the post generated some revenue but not nearly enough to make all needed improvements. 

The answer began a tradition. That tradition is still the trademark of the Rodeo volunteers and donated items. Fence posts were acquired through a gift of telephone poles from a mutual telephone company that had gone out of business. The post members went through the countryside, dug up the poles, and hauled them to the rodeo grounds. The only cost was severe cases of poison ivy contracted by some members. Many other improvements were made at minimal cost and a lot of hard work. The other significant change for the 1926 Rodeo was to run the event like a contest instead of just paying everyone that mounted a horse. Chet Dudley, of the commission firm of Allen Dudley &Company, South Omaha, was an experienced Rodeo judge and kept an eagle eye on every rider. Each man received his pay according to how well he rode.

All the improvements resulted in larger crowds that became almost unmanageable due to the lack of seating space. Each day, the grandstand was jammed to double its capacity long before noon. It was tough to see the show. Success was creating more issues, especially the need to grow the facility.

The Legion decided to build two additional grandstands to create a better Rodeo. In 1927, three large grandstands welcomed the crowd. The seating capacity now exceeded 1,500! The cost of these two large seating areas was approximately $2,000. 

As the crowd grew, so did the expenses. Up until that year, the entertainment had been free. But the Legion determined it could not continue to put on the show without extra money to meet expenses and pay for increased seating, so a small grandstand admission was charged for the first time.