The Ring of Fire – A Rodeo Tradition Like No Other
There are few things more Montanan than the sights, sounds, and of course smells of a small town Montana rodeo. Every town worth a damn in this state boasts its own rodeo… each has its own special set of traditions. Most will feature side events to break up the real rodeo action – such as the always popular Mutton Busters, where children hold on to sheep for dear life as they sprint across the arena.
(It seriously never, ever gets old. Photo credit: Bozeman chronicle)
Others will feature an old fashioned chicken chase where one lucky kid will get to take home a chicken he or she has chased down and captured, besting a hoard of wrangler-clad youngsters.
But by far the best of these one-off events is the finale of the Lincoln Rodeo. They call the event simply: The Ring of Fire. This crowd-favorite event is open to any six individuals who have had enough liquid courage to sign a waiver, borrow any gear the real cowboys are willing to get your blood on, and jump into a chalk circle with Chi Chi, the Mexican Fighting Bull. After a short Calcutta where they auction each participant off to the highest bidder, these men – fueled by domestic beer and the hopes of winning enough money to cover their medical bills – take their place in the dirt/manure mixture of the rodeo arena.
The rules are simple: stay within the chalk circle without falling down or being thrown from the circle by the massive horned beast whose only agenda is inflicting pain on anything in it’s way. Simple, right?
Your humble author, ripe with overconfidence and Black Velvet, may have made some Friday night promises that he would be front and center in the ring of fire the next day. Luckily I was able to persuade my fellow Montana Mint contributor, Montana Parlay, to join me in what could be our last moments.
In retrospect, giving the bull a double-hand slap on its chalk-covered ass may not have been my best decision because as soon as I did so, he seemed to lock in and take me down. Perhaps it was the pink shorts…or the choice of footwear that did me in, but there was no prize money for this city slicker.
Parlay and I were able to come away from the experience (relatively) unscathed with a line item checked off our bucket list and the memory of a one of a kind Montana experience. It is experiences like this that make life worth living. And there’s no better place to live life on the wild side than in the beautiful Treasure State.
(Post-Ring of Fire: Me with a Busch Light, Montana Parlay with our new “mountana” shirt)
Enjoy the video of this year’s Ring of Fire and also check out the much more hectic footage from 2013 and know how lucky we truly were this time around.
2014
2013
