The Bay Area chapter’s record
The Bay Area Chapter of the Golden State Gay Rodeo Association was founded in 1987. It produced the Bay Area Regional Rodeo from 1988 through 2001 and began Best Buck in the Bay in 2002, according to records held by the Autry Museum of the American West and the Online Archive of California. The chapter also produced the first International Gay Rodeo Association finals in Hayward in September 1987.
A longer history of gay rodeo
Accounts generally trace modern gay rodeo to a 1976 event at the Washoe County Fairgrounds in Reno, Nevada, organized as a fundraiser for senior citizens’ Thanksgiving dinners, The Press Democrat reported. The origins of that first event are not entirely settled: a later account documented by Our Town Reno says details about how organizers obtained livestock remain disputed.
Four regional associations formed the International Gay Rodeo Association in 1985 to coordinate the sport and standardize its rules. An IGRA summary reproduced by Wikipedia says competition is open to men and women under the same guidelines and that events support charitable causes. Gay rodeos now take place in hundreds of events across the country and continue to raise money for LGBTQ+ communities and other beneficiaries, The Press Democrat reported.
A local LGBTQ+ history to preserve
The rodeo is part of a region with a documented LGBTQ+ history beyond the event itself. According to the Sonoma County Library, the Russian River Historical Society received a California State Library grant to document, preserve and make accessible how the local LGBTQ+ community and its allies responded to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s.
What happened at this year’s rodeo
The 16th Best Buck in the Bay began Saturday at the Russian River Rodeo Grounds in Duncans Mills, with 75 contestants competing in events including steer riding and calf roping on foot, according to The Press Democrat. The program opened with the U.S. and Canadian anthems and included a riderless-horse ceremony honoring community members who had died during the previous year.
The Bay Area chapter hosted the event, which continued Sunday after Saturday’s activities, including a Wigs and Whisky fundraiser, The Press Democrat reported.
