RAVALLI COUNTY FAIR, MONTANA

As I was enjoying my local Burlington County Fair in July, I had no clue that just two months later I would be taking photographs in the Bitterroot Valley of Western Montana at the Ravalli County Fair.

With the peaks of the Bitterroot Range as a backdrop, the Ravalli County Fair is an end-of-summer tradition held in Hamilton, Montana.  Hamilton is found deep down in the valley, far far away from any kind of city like we would know back East.  The Bitterroot Valley was once filled with apple orchards, but is now mostly ranching and tourism.  You can still find wayward apple trees all along the back roads and cattle are everywhere!  If you are a fan of Yellowstone, a lot of shooting locations are in the Bitterroot Valley and Missoula.  Cattle ranching really is a thing out here - there is another wide and long valley that I love in Montana, which shall remain nameless for now, where cattle drives really do follow and block the main road.  In a tiny little town in this valley, I saw a real cowboy relaxing at a dinette table at lunchtime, leather gloves folded on the table, hat, chaps and all.  It's a beautiful world out here!

Raising livestock is an important tradition and way of life out West.  I was so happy to see the livestock barns filled at the Ravalli County Fair (my hometown Farm Fair had none), not only with critters, but with young people fully involved in raising, caring for, and showing their favorite animals.  After a busy day for these critters I was picturing these kids getting their sleepy cows, pigs, horses, and sheep all settled down for the night so they could run to their trailers and get ready for a big night out...

...at the RODEO!

If I had had any hesitation on my travel dates, one word locked them in - RODEO!

A big part of the Ravalli County Fair is the nightly rodeo.  There was no way I was going to miss a real Western Rodeo, I've been dying to attend one out West for years (and, yes, this was my first rodeo!)

I swapped out my Nikon F6 and film for the D500 and its speed so that I wouldn't miss a thing.  From the moment the National Anthem played with the galloping horse hooves and fluttering flag as an accompaniment, through all of the events, the action, and the jokes and jabs aimed at Missoula and Bozeman, the Montana rodeo was everything I had thought it would be!

Fair warning:  the events for this night were Saddle Bronc, Calf Roping and Breakaway Roping. The calves would give some of these cowboys a run for their money!