Weiser Valley Roundup and Fair

Although rodeo in Weiser dates back to the early 1900s, the Weiser Valley Round-Up and Fair Association began in 1944 and has been synonymous with summer entertainment in Weiser for 75 years.

The Weiser Valley Round-Up and Fair began as a benefit rodeo for the construction of the Weiser Hospital. Through the years it has undergone numerous changes, but one thing has always remained constant: Weiser holds a great rodeo in the summer!

According to the 1944 Weiser Signal American, a call went out for anyone able to gather for a workday to get the rodeo grounds ready for the “Big Show.” The rodeo committee hoped to get 100 men to show up with tools to help fence, build pens and bucking chutes and repair the grandstands, but in true Weiser fashion, over 200 volunteer workers showed up and performed the necessary remodel work that would have cost a minimum of $2,000 to hire someone to perform.

The original Weiser Valley Round-Up also consisted of a 4-H livestock exhibition at the armory grounds, but the livestock show was eventually moved to Cambridge, where the Washington County Fair is still held annually the last week in July. Awards of approximately $300 were slated for 4-H livestock exhibitors, as well as monetary awards for the champion rodeo competitors and parade participants.  During the three-day festivities, in addition to the rodeo and livestock show, there were daily parades, a queen contest, horse races, a rodeo entertainer, Fitz Reynolds, and dances on Friday and Saturday.

The inaugural Weiser Valley Round-Up and Fair held Aug. 19-21, 1944, was a rousing success and exceeded all expectations with an estimated 8,500 people attending the 3-day event.  An estimated 5,000 people packed the grandstands for the Saturday performance with many people turned away at the gate due to insufficient seating capacity.  

Highlights of the rodeo consisted of Doris Ballard crowned the first Weiser Valley Round-Up Queen, with runners-up Lillian Haun and Betty Thompson serving as Ballard’s princesses. Spokane cowboy Johnny Tubbs was the champion cowboy, earning a total $362.50 by winning both the bronc riding and the bareback riding. In addition to the winners, there was excitement and gasps from a bull jumping a fence and running around the racetrack on Saturday, and a potentially very serious horse wreck when Weiser cowboy Buck Tiffin’s horse fell and completely rolled over him. Luckily, Tiffin wasn’t seriously injured.

Despite all of the fanfare and excitement of the rodeo and fair, possibly the most exciting presentation of the whole event, that still serves the residents of Washington County to this day, was the presentation of 14 city lots from the American Legion to the Weiser Hospital Association for the construction of a hospital. In addition to the land, all of the net proceeds of the rodeo was given to the hospital board to add to the construction fund.

The Weiser Valley Round-Up and Fair Association continues to be an all-volunteer, nonprofit association today. For a time in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the rodeo was a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) sanctioned event, called the Hells Canyon Rodeo, but by 1988 it had returned to the Weiser Valley Round-Up (WVR).  The WVR is now sanctioned by the Idaho Cowboys Association (ICA). It is one of the ICA’s premier rodeos and is held the Thursday through Saturday following the 4th of July.

From Weiser Signal American