Let 'er Buck! Lincoln Rodeo gets the go ahead for July 4th weekend

Amid concerns about COVID-19, rodeos across Montana have been canceled, but the 68th annual Lincoln Rodeo will go ahead as planned this year, on July 4 and 5.

Sharla Lewenight, secretary and treasurer of the Lincoln Rodeo Club, said the club had been waiting for Phase Two of the Reopening the Big Sky plan to go into effect, which happened June 1.

"I called our insurance. That was a go," said Lewenright. She said the Health Department also gave the event the go-ahead. "This is our 68th year. I didn't want to miss one if I didn't have to."

Lewenight said that the club is working on some adaptations to the event to allow for social distancing. This includes setting the beer tent up to move customers in and out instead of allowing them to stay in the tent, and placing marks 6-feet apart at the concessions stand and in the bleachers to space customers out.

"Sanitizer's going to be everywhere. We are going to offer some face masks. If you want to wear them, bring your own, but we're hoping to offer whatever we can get," said Lewenight.

One popular event for the Lincoln Rodeo is the Ring of Fire, a challenge in which individuals attempt to stay within a marked circle while trying to dodge a loose bull. It usually closes out each day's performance, but hasn't happened for the last two years. Lewenight is hoping the event goes ahead this year.

"Last year it got rained out real bad, and the year before we didn't have a bull," she said

Attendance is a big unknown for the rodeo this year.

"There's only two rodeos that weekend. It's us, and Choteau's doing theirs, too," said Lewenight. "I've been getting phone calls galore, people asking where they can get tickets and where there's camping."

In the past, Lewenight said attendance has been at about 1000 over the two days of the rodeo. She noted that because the Fourth is on a Saturday, she expects more people to take off Monday and that more people are currently not working because of the pandemic, all of which may affect attendance.

The Sheriff's Office is also paying close attention to how many people may attend. At the June 5 Government Day listening session, representatives from the Sheriff's Office said they believed the Lincoln Rodeo was one of the only rodeos happening in western Montana. They are considering increasing security and law enforcement representation from last year, when shifts of six deputies were on duty here at a time, and plan to adjust depending on attendance. They said the focus will be on limiting DUIs and underage drinking.

"We want people to see us. We want people to know us. We want that friendly interaction," said Sheriff Leo Dutton. "Hopefully you can deter someone without giving someone a ticket,"

Lewenight said the rodeo club has been working hard to get the event organized on a short timeline. Because they didn't know until June 1 if the event would be happening, the club has had just a little over a month to get the rodeo grounds prepared.

"We're at the rodeo grounds every weekend. We've got three more weekends to get everything set up. We usually get out there around 10 on Saturdays," said Lewenight. She added that they're looking for help preparing the grounds and at the event, in both concessions and at the gate.

The Lincoln Rodeo starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 4. The annual Independence Day Parade will start at 11 a.m. and the day will cap off with fireworks starting at dusk.