It was a pleasant surprise to the members of Elks Recreation Inc. and the Santa Maria Elks Rodeo Committee when the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association announced the annual Santa Maria Valley event won 2015 Medium Rodeo of the Year. The honoree was chosen from rodeos nationwide, explained Phil Harwick, president of the rodeo committee and CEO of Elks Recreation Inc.
There are more than 700 rodeos in America, Harwick said, which are classified as small-, medium-, and large-sized rodeos. The annual Elks Rodeo—which celebrated its 72nd year this year—stood out among hundreds of other national, medium-sized rodeos.
The distinction means a lot, Harwick explained, as this year’s event was the third since he took the helm at Elks Recreation Inc. and the rodeo committee, with each year providing a chance to reinvigorate the annual event.
“The rodeo had been floundering, and I had a vision for where it needed to be. What it needed to do to regain its status,” Harwick said. “The Santa Maria rodeo had been one of the top rodeos—and sometimes second top rodeo—in California, and it had kind of lost its way.”
Plenty of things changed, but the familiar formula of the event was preserved and even bolstered, Harwick said, including the Elks Rodeo Queen competition and parade.
One aspect of the Elks Rodeo has been maintained that truly only matters to the barrel racers who compete each year, Harwick explained.
“The women’s barrel racers’ success depends almost completely on the quality of the dirt that they race across—it really comes down to dirt,” he said. “Well, we have some of the best dirt in the business. Our rodeo grounds are ancient sand dunes, they’re just sand, so we’ve brought in several kinds of soils with a certain degree of clay, we mix them together, and we work on it constantly, so we have one of the fastest rodeo grounds for women’s barrel racing in the world right here.
“They did give us an award about 10 years ago for our dirt,” he added, “but this award is for the quality of the entire rodeo.”
Sweating the small stuff—like dirt—certainly matters when trying to preserve the quality the Elks Rodeo is known for, Harwick explained, but so was the ability to be flexible, try new things, or change old ones.
The Elks Rodeo Committee agreed on several changes to the format of the rodeo events, including cutting some lengthy introductions and speeches out of the otherwise action-packed show, Harwick said.
“It’s a two-hour, fast moving, super exciting performance culminating with an air show and motorcycles,” he said. “We’re putting on the absolute best show we can manage, and that’s what it’s become.”
The rodeo was profitable during his first year in charge, Harwick said, and has made more each subsequent year, attracting an audience from as far as Paso Robles and Santa Barbara. This has allowed the organization to stay committed to providing a purse large enough to attract lots of competitive cowboys willing to make the long drive to Santa Barbara County to ride bulls and broncos.
The reinvigoration has attracted more volunteers each year as well, said Harwick, who counts them as the most crucial element of the rodeo’s renewed success.
“I’ve encouraged all the people who volunteer for us as best I know how, but sometimes all they get is a thank you from me and the rest of the rodeo committee, but this time they get a national award,” he said. “It’s their award. Tina [Tonascia, of Elks Recreation Inc.,] and I gave them the tools, but they did the work, it’s the volunteers that made this the top middle-sized rodeo in America.”
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 3, 2015.