BILLINGS - Pro rodeo's richest regular season run fires up this weekend with a barrage of high paying stops in Montana and Wyoming as cowboys and cowgirls criss-cross the nation.
Known as Cowboy Christmas thanks to its lucrative payouts, this year's Fourth of July run will include most of the PRCA's top riders and ropers, along with National Finals Rodeo bubble contestants who can make or break their season depending on fortunes. Only the top 15 regular season money winners in each event are invited to December's NFR in Las Vegas where paydays are highest and world champions are crowned.
The Cody (Wyoming) Stampede opens Thursday (June 30) with its Yellowstone Xtreme Bulls and Bullfighters Only Tour events, with Cody's Stampede rodeo running July 1-4. The Red Lodge Home of Champions Rodeo fires up July 1 with PRCA Xtreme Bulls, and for the first time, breakaway roping on July 1, followed by three rodeo performances July 2-4 at the Red Lodge fairgrounds. This year's Livingston Roundup Rodeo is July 2-4.
Other local rodeos this weekend include a PRCA stop in Roundup, plus NRA rodeos in Harlowton, Ennis, and Choteau.
