Lifetime Leaders of Rodeo & Ranching Rodeo Ranching Great Westerner Western Entertaiment & Arts Rodeo Producers & Livestock Special Achievement Cowboy Long Rider Legacy Award

Special Achievement

Mandan Rodeo
2006 Hall of Fame Special Achievement Inductee

The Mandan Rodeo became famous in the 1940s when it was part of the ‘big loop” that included Cheyenne Frontier Days and the Calgary Stampede.

However, the celebration dates back to July 4, 1879, when a baseball game and pony races marked the 4th of July.

In 1895, the Morton County Fair Association was established, and money was dedicated to building a fence and oval race track in south Mandan. That facility was rebuilt by the CCC in 1938-1939.

As vice-president of the State Fair Association and a prominent horse rancher from Flasher, Stephen P. Weekes of Flasher was instrumental in the event’s development, along with his sons, Steve and Charlie, and his son-in-law, Max Theil, who created the Heart River Roundup.

“Badlands Bill” McCarty joined the effort to create the Mandan Roundup in 1923.
During the 1940s, the Mandan Rodeo Association, headed by Frank Wetzstein, organized a high-class production where top cowboys like Toots Mansfield, Gene Ross and Casey Tibbs competed and celebrities like Gene Autry, Rex Allen and Wild Bill Hickok performed.

In 1951, 11,000 people attended the 4th of July Mandan Rodeo performance, where stock was provided by Leo Cremer of Big Timber, Montana, and J.C. Stevenson, Carson.

The Mandan American Legion took over in 1954 when the rodeo was billed as the “Biggest Fourth of July Show in the U.S.” Stock was provided by Buetler-Morgan of Elk City, Oklahoma, and the prize money increased to $4,500.

After two years, the Legion turned the event over to the Mandan Jaycees. It became a Rodeo Cowboys Association-sanctioned event until 1969, after which it was sanctioned by the North Dakota Rodeo Association.

Stock producers included Buetler-Morgan, Harry Vold and Mike Cervi, and contestants came from all over the country.

In the early 1970s, stock was provided by the Figure Four Rodeo Company, Watford City, and, in the late 1970s, by Figure Four, Joe Berger, George Bruington and Jim Mosbrucker. Prize money by 1980 was over $20,000.

By the mid-1980s, the aging grandstands needed repair and, in 1989, the Mandan Jaycee Rodeo was a highlight of North Dakota’s centennial festivities.

It also marked the last rodeo performance at the old rodeo grounds, which had served the event faithfully for 110 years.

Today, at the Dakota Centennial Park, the Fourth of July event continues to touch the lives and hearts of many people who recognize and appreciate the area’s rodeo traditions.