Guymon Pioneer Rodeo Receives National Honor

March 6, 2013

Carlee Pierce, the 2012 reserve world champion barrel racer, rounds the first barrel on her great horse Dillion during the 2012 Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo. The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association named Pioneer Days Rodeo as the medium-size rodeo of the year and awarded it the Justin Boots Best Footing Award in the Prairie Circuit. (PHOTO BY LYNETTE HARBIN)

GUYMON, Okla. – To produce a high-quality event like the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo, it takes a talented crew of hard-working individuals.
The annual rodeo is the biggest event in the Oklahoma Panhandle, yet virtually all the labor is performed by volunteers. It takes a special person to donate that much time; it takes dedication to be recognized by the top contestants in ProRodeo for a job well done.
“I am very proud of the people we have on our committee and the work they do every year,” said Earl Helm, chairman of the volunteer group that will produce the 81st edition of the Pioneer Days
Rodeo, with four performances scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 3; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 4; and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 5.
Helm should be. The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association named the Guymon event as the 2013 Medium-Size Rodeo of the Year. That’s quite amazing.
“That honor means everything to this community and to the rodeo committee,” Helm said, pointing to volunteers like Wayland Wehmeier and Chris Hollifield as key members of the grounds crew that helped make that happen. “We worked hard. We changed the slack up so it would better fit every event, especially the women.”
The rodeo competition takes seven days to complete and this year begins Monday, April 29.
Slack refers to the overflow to allow as many competitors as possible to take part in Pioneer Days Rodeo, and this year’s contest will follow the same schedule as last year: steer roping, Monday-Tuesday; tie-down roping, team roping and steer wrestling, Wednesday-Thursday; WPRA barrel racing, Friday.
“By switching things around, this helped the contestants all the way around that we could better prepare the ground for each day,” Helm said. “We felt like it benefitted everybody.”
So do the barrel racers, who make their livings on racehorses trained to make tight turns and score times that are separated by 100ths of a second. Not only did the WPRA award the Guymon rodeo with the national honor, but Pioneer Days Rodeo was given the Prairie Circuit’s Justin Boots Best Footing award, recognition for the best ground in the Oklahoma-Kansas-Nebraska region.
“It’s a big deal to this rodeo, to this community,” Helm said. “This is very important for our community and for the future of rodeo in Guymon.
“We’re very proud of it.”