Montana: Hometown Rodeo

Rating:
Summary: Punkin rollins and jackpot rodeos. . .
Review: This is a fine collection of 86 black-and-white photographs taken by photographer Joanne Berghold at small town rodeos around Montana in the 1990s and early 2000s. Unlike the commercialized rodeo to be seen in today's PRCA circuit, these local rodeos capture the spirit of the sport as it emerged in the early 20th century -- a family-oriented affair that brought the whole rural community together for a once-a-year celebration. Look at these pictures, and what you often see instead of covered bleachers and flashy corporate sponsor billboards is a wire arena fence with trucks and cars pulled up to it and open prairie or hills beyond. The parking lot is grass-covered, and horse trailers are parked under the trees.

The opening images set the tone of the book -- gravel roads with grass and weeds right to the edges, leading to a low horizon, where clouds drift in a big sky, a veil of rain falling into a distant mountain ridge. Then in the photographs that follow there's the contrasting activity of small town life, strung out along a treeless main street, and the gathering of people at the rodeo grounds.

A cowboy in black hat, wranglers and spurs checks out the draw for the events posted on the side of a trailer, a young girl practices roping a hay bale, hats are placed over hearts in the grandstands and in the crow's nest for the Pledge of Allegiance, horses in the dusty light move into a holding pen, a cowboy bows his head in prayer on the top rail of a chute over a saddled bronc, riders one after another take spills off bucking rough stock. The arena itself may be dusty dirt or waterlogged mud. A roper waits, eyes set in concentration, a piggin string clamped in his mouth under a full mustache; a young bulldogger skids boots first in the dirt, his arms locked around the horns of a calf. There are team ropers, barrel racers, young bull riders taping up, and bullfighters in clown makeup. In the end, buckles are awarded to the winners, cowboys head out with war bags over their shoulders, and horses move up loading chutes into a trailer.

The book is a tribute to a western tradition and way of life, still close to its roots in the workaday world of ranchers and cowboys. It includes an essay by Kim Zupan, a gifted writer and former rough-stock rider. All photos were taken in Montana in rural small towns like Boulder, Belt, Wilsall, and Roundup.