The Philomath Frolic and Rodeo’s three-night performance in an expanded and upgraded arena appeared to provide a positive experience for most of those involved. Fans turned out in high numbers, sponsors and volunteers enjoyed a few new perks and some of the top competitors on the rodeo circuit commented on the enhanced atmosphere.
While specific attendance figures weren’t released, Frolic and Rodeo board president Alyssa Collins spoke enthusiastically about how many rodeo fans came through the gates. The Friday and Saturday rodeos were sell-outs.
“We hoped for that but we never fully expected that we would sell out — and we did, which is absolutely amazing,” Collins said after last weekend’s final performance.
Chris Workman, who serves on the board and handles media relations, said close to 300 standing-room-only seats were sold for Saturday night.
“That’s a lot and that’s about what we did last year on Saturday before we built the additional stands,” Workman said about standing-room-only numbers. “So we’re super happy with the attendance and now we need to build more grandstands.”
Despite the success, organizers encountered some challenges. Fans who went to Friday night’s performance, for example, ended up stuck in long, slow-moving lines with an influx of arrivals in the 6:30 to 7 p.m. time frame.
“It was partly logistical and partly because it was our sponsor night,” Collins said. “It was by far better tonight (Saturday) because we made some adjustments to the way we were processing the lines. … We apologize to all of our sponsors that waited in line as long as they did and to all of our spectators.”
Gallery: Philomath Frolic and Rodeo (July 10, 2025)
The Philomath Frolic and Rodeo kicked off Thursday night in its expanded and upgraded arena at Skirvin Park with the first of three rodeo performances. Cowboys and cowgirls competed in bareback riding, barrel racing, breakaway roping, bull riding, calf roping, saddle bronc, steer wrestling and team roping. Award-winning announcer Scott Allen is back this year.…
Gallery: Philomath Frolic and Rodeo (July 11, 2025)
A higher-than-usual number of bull riders, an auction fundraiser to benefit an accident victim and the annual fireworks show were highlights on the second night of the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo. The Friday performance featured the usual events — bareback riding, barrel racing, breakaway roping, bull riding, calf roping, saddle bronc, steer wrestling and team…
Workman said it’s been about 10 years since he had seen a line that long and referred to a few different factors that contributed to the situation. For one, he mentioned how a large number of rodeo fans are now arriving later than they had in past years.
“We used to not do reserved seating so people had to come a lot earlier in order to get their seats saved,” he said. “So there were fewer people coming in 15 minutes, 10 minutes before the rodeo started. We’ve kind of spoiled ourselves with reserved seating in that you don’t have to be here early, you just have to be here on time.”
The rodeo board was scheduled to meet Thursday to talk about this year’s event. Scanning tickets on rodeo nights and improving efficiency on the Friday sponsor night were likely topics of conversation but Collins said the smoother admission experience on Saturday has seemingly answered some of those questions.
“We’ve already spoken about things that we can look at doing differently next year to mitigate the issue of people having to wait,” Collins said. “We applied some of that here tonight where we broke it out by seating section. So we were putting people in line by what section they were in and it was a lot easier processing them and getting them through. That seemed to work a lot better with getting people to where they needed to go.”
Said Workman, “I think that we know where the solution is, we’ve just got to implement that for next year a little bit sooner.”
Another new challenge organizers saw related to tighter parking.
“With the added seats, that’s added drivers and it was a little bit tougher to get a parking spot if you were getting here right on time or a little bit late,” Workman said. “So there was a little bit of spillover into the surrounding neighborhoods. … We’ll probably think that through a little bit for next year as well and try to come up with a more permanent plan, maybe a shuttle-type deal or just something to help out with the parking issue.”
Workman said the organization will continue to take on the challenges as they come up.
“As the rodeo continues to grow and you get more and more people, there’ll be some logistical things to keep learning,” he said. “It’s just growing pains that we’ll work through.”
With the new grandstands, there was some grumbling about a lack of ADA seating and fans in the section furthest north having poor sightlines toward the action. But both Collins and Workman said they heard plenty of positive feedback.
“It sounds like the stadium seating was a big hit to people and the box seats were full every night,” Collins said.
Workman said he heard appreciative comments from the contestants, sponsors and volunteers.
“The contestants especially were head over heels loving it,” Workman said. “They’ve got a great spot in the back where they can get ready and the arena itself is awesome with the new stands on either side. It’s awesome for them for riding in.”
A new wrinkle this year was a hospitality tent that served hundreds, including more than 1,200 on sponsor night. Workman heard good things from folks who were able to have a good meal — the tri-tip seemed to be a hit — and sit down with others in a shaded area.
Collins showed a deep appreciation for the volunteers that helped put on this year’s event.
“They worked tirelessly the last two weeks leading up to this weekend, ensuring that we could put on a rodeo because there were a lot of things that we were getting down to the wire on and they worked very late nights down here all hours of the day when they could — after work, before work, taking days off, spending all of their weekend here,” Collins said.
As for the future, Collins said the Frolic and Rodeo would love to get started on the next section of new grandstands but the necessary funding needs to first be secured.
