Courtesy PRCA
WranglerNetwork.com will live stream exclusive video coverage of the PRCA’s Seminole Tribe Brighton Field Day Festival and Rodeo in Okeechobee, Fla. The broadcast will go on the air at 3 p.m. (ET) Feb. 18-19 … For the first time in 17 years, a bullfight endorsed by the PRCA took place Feb. 11 at the Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Fla. Cody Emerson, a 28-year-old PRCA bullfighter from Marble Falls, Texas, won the competition with an 88-point score. Emerson scored better than both of his opposing PRCA bullfighters, Phill Hussman and Miles Jones, while Robbie Hodges was the barrelman in the arena. “The bull and I fought it out for about 35 seconds, matching move for move,” Emerson said. “We made a bunch of rounds, and I got four or five real good fakes on him. We got a great reaction in Kissimmee, and the crowd was loving it.” The next bullfight will take place Feb. 25 in San Antonio, Texas … Construction of a new 10,000-seat stadium at the Utah State Fair Park in Salt Lake is 40 percent complete. The Fair Park is scheduled to host the Days of ’47 Komatsu Equipment Cowboy Games, July 19-22 and 24. The $17 million stadium is being built in part from an infusion of $10 million in funding from the Utah Legislature, approved during a special session last summer, and a $3 million contribution from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The stadium is due for completion by July 1 … Nearly 300 people attended the Sheridan (Wyo.) College rodeo banquet Feb. 11 at the Sheridan Holiday Inn. Rodeo Coach Marc Gilkerson said the annual event is a fundraiser, and this was the seventh year for the event in Sheridan. In addition to the meal, the event included live and silent auctions, and live entertainment by the Munsick Boys … Dayton Silva, a PRCA Gold Card member, and member of the Livermore (Calif.) Rodeo committee and arena director, passed away Dec. 2, at his home in Acampo, Calif. He was 86 … Donald Kent Bandy, a former member of the Turtle Cowboys Association, passed away Dec. 3 in North Platte, Neb. He was 96 … William K. “Smokey” Smith, a former PRCA member and president of the First Frontier Circuit, and a regular competitor at the Cowtown Rodeo in Woodstown, N.J., passed away Jan. 23 in Townsend, Del. He was 81.Smith competed all over the east coast, with Madison Square Garden in New York being one of his favorite places. He was president of the First Frontier Circuit from 1986-1994, and he won numerous championships, buckles and saddles. His son, Chuck Smith, won the RAM First Frontier Circuit Finals team roping title last month in Harrisburg, Pa. … The Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame is hosting the seventh annual Battle of the Bars competition in the Let’er Buck Room March 3. The competition will begin at 6 p.m. (PT) and is open to the public, with no cover charge to attend, for those at least 21 years of age. Nine local bars are coming together in the Let’er Buck Room to compete for the “Best of West” title. Each establishment will create a signature drink that must contain Pendleton Whisky. At the end of the event, votes will be tallied and the winning bar will receive a plaque. This will be the seventh annual Battle of the Bars, the largest fundraiser of the year for the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame … The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said it is recommending criminal charges following an extensive investigation into a boat crash on Lake Coeur d’Alene last July that left three people dead. Caitlin Breeze, and PRCA competitors Justin Honken and Justin Luhr, died when another boat crashed into their stationary boat at about 9:15 p.m. July 30 near Threemile Point. Their bodies were found days later by a dive and sonar team. The owner of the boat which crashed into the three victims, Dennis Magner, was on the boat with four other passengers. “In the days following the crash, information became public that three people were missing and presumed drowned,” KCSO officials wrote in a release. “It was then that three occupants aboard Magner’s boat recanted their original statements, and identified Magner as the person actually operating the vessel at the time of the crash.”
