6X PRCA Medium Sized Rodeo of the Year | 2018 - 2022 & 2024

Belle Fourche Beacon | news@bellefourchebeacon.com

The Black Hills Roundup held the 105th edition of the event in the Rushmore State this past July. The rodeo, named Medium Outdoor Rodeo of the Year, assembled a pen from its primary stock contractor, Championship Pro Rodeo, with sub-contractors Fettig Pro Ro deo, Cowtown Rodeo, Harper & Morgan Rodeo Company and Burch Rodeo. “I’ve always said we have some of the best people and volunteers working with our rodeo,” Conner said. “We’re like family. At the end of the day, we’re all doing it for the right reason. Hats off to our committee because they are a great group of people.” The Black Hills Round up will host its 106th edition from July 1-5, 2025, in Belle Fourche.

Belle Fourche Beacon | news@bellefourchebeacon.com

Ft. Worth, TX - For the third year in a row the Black Hills Roundup has won a Rodeo of the Year award from the PRCA. Last July’s event was the 101st in the long history of the signature Belle Fourche event and adds yet another jewel to the community’s crown of accomplishment.

“You can have good years and bad years but to have three good years in a row, it just doesn’t get any better than that,” Keith Anderson, Committee Chairman told the Beacon.

The award for 2020 Medium Outdoor Rodeo of the Year was given on Wednesday evening, Dec. 2nd at the PRCA’s annual Award’s Banquet held at Dickie’s Arena in Ft. Worth, Texas. A sizeable contingent from the Roundup was on hand to witness the presentation and to see Anderson accept the trophy on behalf of the committee.

“It is so humbling to have someone recognize all the hard work that our committee and volunteers put in to produce this rodeo,” Anderson said. “When the contestants recognize it and vote on it’s pretty heartwarming.”

In his acceptance speech, Anderson thanked the state’s governor and city officials for allowing the rodeo to go on during a year when many events were canceled due to the virus.

“We were so grateful to even have a rodeo,” he told the Beacon. “They could have stopped us at any time they wanted but they didn’t. They believed in us and we had a rodeo and won the award. It’s really for them as much as for us. I thanked our sponsors and volunteers and our personnel at the rodeo grounds, our contractors and announcers, everyone who works for us and helped us put on a good show.”

Anderson says the Roundup Committee spends time at each NFR attending meetings and listening for feedback on what makes a rodeo successful. There seem to be three factors that they hear the most. The first is the hospitality the contestants and sponsors receive. The second is the overall organization of the event. And the third is the commitment that is seen from the community to support and grow the rodeo.

Last year’s rodeo saw a few milestones. There were more contestants than ever before, a record payout, and the event was live streamed on the Cowboy Channel.

“It isn’t always easy but we try to be two or three years ahead in our planning with new and upcoming specialty acts. It helps to try and be one step ahead of everybody else,” he said.

The award is voted on by PRCA cardholders. An email goes out usually in September asking for nominations in each category. Then the top five nominated rodeos in each category are determined and a second email is sent asking for the eventual winners. This year the Roundup was up against Burwell, NE, Coleman, TX, Guymon, OK, and Cave Creek, Arizona.

Anderson gave a tip of his hat to the Arizona event. “Boy I really thought Cave Creek had a shot at it,” Anderson said. “They were the trailblazers this year saying they wanted to have a rodeo no matter what. They were the first ones back.”

Not only was it a big year for the Roundup but it was a good year for South Dakota all the way around. Three of the four major awards went to South Dakota rodeos. Rodeo Rapid City (the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo) won for large indoor rodeo of the year and the Deadwood Days of ’76 won the award for large outdoor rodeo of the year. It was the first time this has ever happened. And that wasn’t all.

“It was really cool because Miss Rodeo America presents the buckle up on stage and that happens to be Jordan Tierney, (from Hot Springs) one of our own,” Anderson said.

“With all those South Dakota rodeos winning makes you kind of wonder why we had to come all this way for the awards,” Anderson said with a laugh.

Small rodeos are classified by the PRCA as those with less than $3,000 added money. Medium rodeos are classified as those with $3,000 to $9,999 added. Large rodeos are $10,000 and above in added money. Since the medium size rodeo category was created in 2004 it has never left the state of South Dakota. The honor has been shared by either Belle Fourche or Deadwood every years for the past 17 years. Deadwood’s win in the Large Outdoor category this year breaks the five-year run of Oregon’s Pendleton Roundup and represents Deadwood’s first win in the category. Rapid City’s win is the first time the award has not been given to San Antonio or Houston since 2003, the last time that Rapid City’s rodeo won the award.

Longtime Roundup stock contractor Powder River Rodeo with Hank and Lori Franzen took home top honors for the bucking bull of the year, Chiseled. The Franzen family also saw one of their own take home a top honor as Jill Franzen Loden won Music Director of the Year. Franzen is a former Roundup music director.

By Mark Watson Black Hills Pioneer Dec 6, 2018

BELLE FOURCHE — The Black Hills Roundup was named the PRCA’s best Medium Outdoor Rodeo of the year Wednesday evening in Las Vegas.

Members of the Roundup committee were on hand in Vegas to receive the award.

Clay Crago, chairman of the Roundup committee said hearing the news was exciting.

Crago was one of 17 committee members present at the banquet where the news was announced.

“So that was neat to have us all there,” Crago said. “A few tears were shed; it was really cool … (it took) 100 years to get it. It all fell into place from the induction into the PRCA Hall of Fame, and being nominated (for Medium Rodeo of the Year), and then winning it here and falling right into the 100th, I don’t think you could have a fairy tale story any better.”

The Roundup had been nominated one time before, in 2007, but this is the first time the rodeo took home the big honor.

To receive the nominations and ultimate win, contestants in the PRCA cast ballots for their favorite rodeos.

The Roundup was in contention with rodeos in Amarillo, Texas; Coleman, Texas; Estes Park, Colo.; and Stephenville, Texas.

Deadwood’s Days of ’76 rodeo moved up into the Large Outdoor Rodeo category this year for the first time, and it was nominated to be named the top event. Other large outdoor rodeos in contention were: Cheyenne, Wyo., Dodge City, Kan., Ogden, Utah and Pendleton, Ore, with the Pendleton Round-up ultimately receiving top honors.

The Black Hills Stock Show also received accolades when it received a nomination as the best large indoor rodeo of the year. It was in contention with Corpus Christi, Texas, Denver, Colo., Fort Worth, Texas, and San Antonio, Texas. The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo won the category.

The annual awards banquet helps kick off the National Finals Rodeo, with the first round of rodeo action held tonight.

The Black Hills Roundup, held July 2-6, will celebrate its century mark this coming summer. Crago said the “One Arm Bandit” will be back as a specialty act. There will be miniature chuck wagon races, two nights of fireworks, the popular parade, a concert downtown, and a larger cattle drive.

This year, the rodeo will have new grandstands. Construction crews demolished the old grandstands this fall as parts of the structure were rotting. Work on the new grandstands will occur throughout the winter.