Ornery livestock and feisty cowboys ride into Park Rapids for the weekend of July 1-3.
And tarnation! It’s the 45th anniversary of the Headwaters Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) Rodeo and Xtreme Bulls.
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Let’s give a mighty “yee-haw” for the roughly $100,000 in prizes.
“For Minnesota, it’s huge,” says Randy Jokela, the founder and a Park Rapids High graduate. “It’s the largest pro rodeo event in Minnesota.”
‘It’s a way of life
’Jokela grew up around rodeo, spending loads of time in his mom’s hometown of Red Lodge, Mont. Calling it “Cowboy Central,” he said, “In that part of the country, rodeo is like hockey here.”
“My family on my mom’s side, they’re all ranchers,” he said. “My grandma was a helluva cowgirl. She grew up on a ranch. She worked Yellowstone, in the '20s, right in that era before she got married.”
Jokela said she rode broncs at rodeos. “Grandma, she was tough.”
At 4, he shook hands with all-around world champion and Rodeo Hall of Famer Bill Linderman.
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In 1978, after graduating from Concordia College in Moorhead, he endeavored to bring rodeo to northern Minnesota.
Park Rapids’ first amateur rodeo was held at the Hubbard County fairgrounds, where it remained a staple for almost 20 years.
By the 10th year, Jokela achieved his goal of going pro and getting sanctioned by PRCA.
In 1998, the bull ride outgrew the fairgrounds and moved to its current location, a 50-acre pasture east of Park Rapids on State Hwy. 34.
With about 250 performances under his belt to date, Jokela said he never expected to be bringing a taste of the Wild West to the Midwest 45 years later.
The world’s best
The Xtreme Bulls event on Sunday, July 2 features 35-plus, top-caliber competitors.
Since Park Rapids is PRCA sanctioned, all points earned in the events help contestants qualify for the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) held in Las Vegas each December.
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Jokela explained the 10 days around the Fourth of July are known as “Cowboy Christmas.”
“We’re in that lineup of about 25 rodeos in the U.S. We’re a good-sized rodeo in that group, so they’ve got to look at us,” he said. “People don’t realize we get guys who rode in Livingston, Cody, Red Lodge or Belle Fourche the night before. They’re on a bull, somewhere, every day.”
Tantalizing prize money and rip-snorting livestock allure the serious professionals.
“There’s gonna be a lot of the best bull riders in the world,” Jokela said. “Over the years, in Park Rapids, we’ve had five different world champions fight bulls here.”
Blaine Beaty of Frazee will be in search of his eight seconds of glory – and more than $35,000 in prize winnings – in Park Rapids. The 24-year-old professional bull rider is entered in both the Headwaters PRCA Rodeo and Xtreme Bulls.
“There’s not a lot of good bull riders out of Minnesota – just him,” Jokela said. “He’s top dog. I think he was in the Top 50 in the nation last year. He was winning a lot of rodeos. I told him, ‘This is your hometown rodeo.’”
Jokela uses livestock contractors from Montana, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Wyoming. These same broncs and bulls also qualify for the NFR. They are being judged as well, receiving half of the scoring points.
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To ensure that riders compete on evenly matched animals, the livestock is entered into a random computer drawing. This is called “even the pen.”
Pro rodeo
A full slate of rodeo action runs Saturday, July 1 and Monday, July 3 – from bareback, saddle bronc and steer wrestling to calf roping, barrel racing, team roping and bull riding.
Approximately 40 bull riders are entered in the two-day Headwaters PRCA Rodeo, along with about 40 saddle bronc and 24 bareback contestants.
“Nobody gets those kinds of numbers” for bareback riders, Jokela said, “because it’s such a vicious thing on your body – more than bulls.”
It’s a wild ride.
“You’re just everywhere on that horse. You get points for making it look wild. You can be all over that horse and still get points. You just want that bugger to buck.”
Jokela concluded, “All you’re holding on to is a suitcase handle, that’s it. It’s a trip for hell.”
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Saddle bronc riders, on the other hand, don’t get points for flourish.
“You’ve got to be in control. It’s an old cowboy event, like off the ranch. If your butt is way out of the saddle, you’re getting docked points,” Jokela said. “It’s a timed event. You have to be in rhythm with the horse.”
And by golly, these are ill-tempered creatures. When you watch a good horse buck off a cowboy, “they just prance,” Jokela said.
Bull riders get extra points if they lift and release their legs, while remaining on the angry, 1,800-pound beasts.
“Bullfighters are the probably best athletes in the arena,” he said. “That’s what they’re getting paid for. They’ll put their life on the line. They will. They know it.”
Many national and world rodeo champions spar at the Headwaters PRCA Rodeo.
“Last year, we had Joe Beaver, eight-time world champion in team roping,” Jokela recalled.
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Breakaway roping for the Women Professional Rodeo Association returns this year. “It’s a new event for women,” he said, with 30 entries in 2023.
They, along with barrel racers, will perform all three nights.
Draws thousands
The rodeo action not only attracts the best contestants, but also thousands of fans from across Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa and beyond.
Seating is virtually unlimited at the Jokela ProWest grounds.
Last year was a banner year. Jokela said at least 3,000 to 4,000 were in the audience one night.
“The second night of the event was one of the largest crowds we’ve ever had,” he reported, adding the PRCA rodeo judges estimated between 5,000 to 7,000. “It was wall to wall people.”
Gates open at 5 p.m., rain or shine.
Freestyle Moto X, featuring X Games champs, perform nightly.
Kids, ages 5 to 7, can sign up for the ever-popular “mutton bustin’.” Parents should register online in advance. There’s already a waiting list.
Live bands will entertain under the pavilion all three nights. Lendon James, Randy Burghardt and Uptown will dish up some good, ol’ honky tonk country music. Admission is free for those with a same-day rodeo ticket.
To avoid long lines, Jokela recommends purchasing tickets online at
. On Kids Night, July 1, tickets are half price for children.
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