Hamel Rodeo

Hitch up your chaps, slap on your Stetson, and point your mare on the trail for Hamel; it's rodeo time. The 28th Annual Hamel Rodeo will kick up dirt all weekend long with bareback riding, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, and bull riding. The saddle-sore triumphant cowboys and girls will walk away bowlegged with hefty cash prizes. As is the case every year, the proceeds from the rodeo, Minnesota's biggest in terms of payoff, benefit six community service nonprofits in and around Hamel. On Thursday night the bull riders and cattle ropers buck cowboy fashion and don pink riding garb to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Those looking to lasso cheap entertainment for the young-uns should make the half-hour trek west on Saturday for Family Day's $6 tickets. Yee-haw.
July 10-13, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., July 12, 1 p.m., 2008