The Philomath Frolic and Rodeo's Friday and Saturday performances were sellouts. (Photo by Leon Neuschwander/Philomath News)

Following the traditional stampede to close out the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo’s final performance on Saturday night, thousands of folks streamed out of the arena to either head for their vehicles or into the Yew Wood Corral for the concert and dance.

For the second straight night, the rodeo had sold all of its seats. Even on the first night, which falls on a Thursday, officials said the grandstands were at 74% capacity.

“We had a ton of standing room only and I think it’s definitely a packed house for sure tonight,” said Alyssa Lewis, who took over this year as the Frolic and Rodeo board president. “We had three really great days of rodeo. Our contestants were top notch as always.”

But would this be the last rodeo with fans sitting in the old bleachers? The Frolic and Rodeo did have promotional materials on the new grandstands project set up near the front entrance stating that the $2.4 million project’s construction would begin in August.

“That’s our hope,” Lewis said. “We can’t say that we’re 100% on that yet.”

Chris Workman, a Frolic and Rodeo spokesman who also handles much of the organization’s public relations, explained the situation. He said that the Saturday night rodeo was “most likely” the last one with people sitting on the arena’s old wooden bleachers along with the metal grandstands brought in to boost capacity following a devastating fire in 2022.

However, as Lewis conceded, there are no guarantees with various hurdles to clear before the project becomes a reality. The Frolic and Rodeo entered into a design-build contract with Gerding Builders and hired Bleachers International for the design.

Promotional materials about the Frolic and Rodeo’s grandstands project were on display near the entrance. (Photo by Brad Fuqua/Philomath News)

“We’re still trying to get to the final design and we’ll then see what that total budget looks like,” Workman said. “Things always cost more than what you hope. Right now, the plan is we’ll still be breaking ground on something.”

The Northwest Youth Association Finals is scheduled for Aug. 16-18 and the arena will also be used for an upcoming Mexican Rodeo and a middle school rodeo. After those wrap up, the Frolic hopes to begin demolition and get the grounds ready for construction.

“That again depends on where the final design and final costs come in,” Workman said. “We may be doing a Phase 1 and Phase 2-type thing but we’ll see something happen more than likely. We’ll wait and see.”

With the 2024 rodeo a wrap, the organization’s board of directors will get together to critique various components of the overall event.

“What we typically do is give everyone a much-needed break for a few weeks and then we have all of our committee chairs speak to their committee members, take notes on what went well, what didn’t go well, what we can improve on, things that we need to change for next year and come up with a list and a game plan for moving forward for the next year,” Lewis said.

Contestants participate in Friday night’s donkey races. (Photo by Leon Neuschwander/Philomath News)

An event added this year was the Oregon Open Chainsaw Carving Competition that featured some of the top talent in the Pacific Northwest. Lewis said the carvings “were incredible” and added that she believes everything sold at the Saturday afternoon auction, although they might not have brought in as much money as had been hoped.
“They did some incredible art and we got a lot of really good compliments from people,” Lewis said.

Lewis said the annual lumberjack competition had heavy attendance.

“I always saw people out amongst the carving contests and I think that potentially could have increased the attendance for the logging show,” she said.

The Frolic Fish Rodeo had to be canceled this year because of a supplier issue but Workman vowed that it will be back in 2025. Other activities included a home run derby, cornhole tournaments, sidewalk chalk event, family fun run and more. Plus, the Grand Parade is always a hit among locals.

The Frolic and Rodeo always falls on the second full weekend in July. For those looking ahead to next year, that would be July 10-12.

Brad Fuqua has covered the Philomath area since 2014 as the editor of the now-closed Philomath Express and currently as publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He has worked as a professional journalist since 1988 at daily and weekly newspapers in Nebraska, Kansas, North Dakota, Arizona, Montana and Oregon.