Annual Will Rogers Memorial Rodeo

Vinita hosts the annual – Original -Will Rogers Memorial Rodeo, a 4 day event where you’ll see World Champion Cowboys compete for $50,000.00 in cash prizes at 7 big events.

• Bareback Bronco Riding
• Calf Roping
• Girl’s Barrel Racing
• Steer Wrestling
• Saddle Bronco Riding
• Bull Riding
• Steer
  Roping
• —-plus–CLOWNS & Specialty Acts.

The rodeo in Vinita was first suggested by Will Rogers in 1934, when he told his Vinita friends, “Have a rodeo here next year and I’ll come back.” He returned that fall for the old-timers parade but was killed in a plane crash later in the year. In 1935 it was decided the rodeo would be held as a memorial to Will.

Since that year it has become one of the outstanding rodeos in the entire southwest. Vinita’s American Legion Post 40, sponsor of the annual rodeo since its inception in 1935, has spared no expense in making it great. The large purse, $50,000.00 or more, attracts the top cowboy champions of the nation, and 59 years of producing the rodeo have given the sponsors the know-how which makes show perennially one of the nations best.