Ft. Pierre, South Dakota. 4th of July Rodeo and Parade

This was my first exposure to real cowboys and cowgirls, and this was the first rodeo I've ever seen. I'd never even thought about going to a rodeo before this, but I did know that rodeo is a big sport. Colleges and other types of schools offer rodeo scholarships, and major rodeo competitions attract competitors from all over the world.

This event was held at the Casey Tibbs Arena. Casey Tibbs was probably the most famous rodeo athlete of all time, and his name and likeness are everywhere in what was his home town of Ft. Pierre.

I'm not aware of any rodeo in New York City, but I'm told there is an underground bullfighting circuit in the Long Island City part of Queens. The bullfights are carried out in secret, but a few years ago the secret got out when one of the bulls broke loose and went running through the streets of Queens. The police could not control the enormous animal, which scared the hell out of everyone it passed. The police were forced to shoot it dead. This prompted animal rights groups to complain about the inhumanity of the NYPD, with the then-unpopular Rudy Giuliani responding that if the police were going get yelled at for this then it must be that they can't do anything right.

Parade Pictures
Ft. Pierre, South Dakota. 4th of July Parade, 2002.

Ft. Pierre is a genuine cowboy town, where people wear Statson hats and spurred boots because that is their style. Rodeo events and the cowboy lifestyle are not a gimmick, and the cowboy outfits are not costumes.

I found myself asking "Is this still America?" But I quickly realized that such thinking marks me an idiot tourist, and I'm fortunate that I never asked any stupid questions.

"What's it like to be a cowboy? How does it feel?"

The rodeo in particular reminded me of something I read in a social studies textbook when I was in grade school. A chapter on the United States started by saying that America comprises so many peoples and so many regions and is so vast in so many different aspects that to attempt to characterize its people or its personality in a succinct manner would be impossible.

I did enjoy the rodeo, although it ran a bit long for me. They did all the great rodeo events: Barebacks, Calf Roping, Saddle Bronc, Barrels, and Bull Riding among others.

This particular rodeo has been held annually since 1832, making it the longest running Independence Day celebration west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies.

The announcer for the last 28 years has been Johnny Smith. He opened the festivities with a pointed recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, loudly including the words "under God." Those 2 words were recently ruled unconstitutional by a judge in San Francisco, to the disgust of anyone I heard discuss it, and to the indifference of anyone who could at least understand the logic behind the ruling.

Whatever Johnny Smith felt, I remember thinking that that judge in San Francisco was going to prevail. Why, when America accepts all peoples from all nations and all creeds, is this a nation under "God" with a capital G? What does God care about America? What does God care about any country, about any political system, about any city or town? Did God care about the 4th of July in Ft. Pierre, South Dakota? With a Constitution that appeases so many extremes, why should a mention of God that was injected into the Pledge of Allegience as a piece of cold war propaganda be held to the same standard as the basic promises of America itself?

And I kept asking myself "Is this still America?" And I asked myself "Is all this going to be gone soon? Is America going to be gone soon?"

I do not think that God will survive American politics. Not where the Pledge of Allegiance is concerned.

The other big July 4th event in Ft. Pierre was the parade, which has been held annually since 1989. I can not stand parades, but I tried to get into the spirit of things by attending. I don't know what it is about parades, but I just can't stand them, and perhaps to my loss I was unable to overcome this aversion during the parade in Ft. Pierre.

I think that parades have come to remind me of those open-roof double decker buses that drive through Manhattan crowned with tourists who feel that they themselves are on parade.

At any rate, the rodeo was quite the spectacle.

>> Click here for the first rodeo picture >>
>> Click here for the first parade picture >>