BY PEPPER FISHER
Port Angeles – Attention, rodeo fans.
Pending approval from Clallam County commissioners, some big upgrades are coming to the rodeo arena at the fairgrounds in Port Angeles.
County Parks Director Don Crawford says most of the planned improvements, at a cost of about $290,000, will be paid initially by the County, but County officials entered an agreement with Washington State Dept. of Agriculture to receive a grant of $250K, with the remaining $40,000 being put up by the Olympic Peninsula Rodeo Association (OPRA).
What will all that money pay for? The County will use grant funding to update the rodeo arena, cattle chutes, catch pens, they’ll purchase or repair swinging gates, install slam gates, and more.
Most of that list is “cowboy level” stuff, but Crawford said other planned upgrades will be noticeable to rodeo fans sitting in the stands.
“We’re going to retrofit the existing grandstand lighting that’s, you know, 40 years old. So, we’re going to have better lights. The way that they’re reconfiguring the arena should help both from a participant safety and show production standpoint, but it should do a real good job of improving the spectator’s experience, moving some of the action closer to the grandstands.”
Crawford said the arena improvements are largely the result of input by the members of the Rodeo Association themselves, and their involvement will go beyond the planning phase. He said the $40,000 they will put up will be in the form of sweat equity, doing much of work that a contractor would otherwise be paid to do.
It sounds like a lot to do ahead of the coming rodeo season. Will it be done on time?
“We’re going to do everything in our power to get it done before the rodeo but, you know, the best laid plans of mice and men…”
(Photo courtesy of Clallam County Parks Dept.)