At “high noon” on July 1, a few real cowboys will drive a prizewinning herd of Texas Longhorn cattle through the streets of downtown Colorado Springs.The cattle run is a kick off to the Ride for the Brand Rodeo, which takes place on July 2 at the Norris-Penrose Event Center.Stan Searle, president of the Texas Longhorn Heritage Foundation, and owner of Searle Ranch in Monument, Colo., will transport the Longhorns to downtown Colorado Springs. Searle and fellow cowboys will herd the cattle, starting from Cache La Poudre Avenue, heading south on Tejon Street to the Pioneers Museum.The cattle drive and the rodeo are a way to bring back the feel of the ole’ west to a city that was once all about cowboys and cattle herding, said Waddie Mitchell, a world renown cowboy poet, long-time rancher and founder of the Working Ranch Cowboys Association, sponsors of the Ride for the Brand Rodeo.And it’s all about the working cowboy.”Pro rodeo has moved away from the working cowboy to professional athletes,” Mitchell said. “The history of rodeo was about cowboys who needed to get a job done in their working lives. We wanted to showcase these cowboys and teach people where today’s rodeo came from. There are still (real) cowboys out there.”A real cowboy, Mitchell said, is a “man who makes his wages on horse back, tending cattle.” He said everyone would be “doggone” surprised how many cowboys still exist. Nevertheless, Mitchell said ranchers are running about 40 percent fewer cattle than in 1980.”We’ve seen a lot of changes in ranching,” he said. “It has a lot to do with economics, federal policies and kids moving away. It wouldn’t be easy to talk a smart man into going into the ranching industry.”You have a perishable commodity that you take to market and ask them want they want for it. It’s obviously not about that; it’s about the lifestyle, and that’s what is great.”It’s a lifestyle Mitchell relished. However, as a traveling cowboy poet, his Elko, Nev., ranch has dwindled to “just” 720 acres. “I travel all over the world, which is quite interesting for a guy who used to be a cowboy.”Keeping the spirit of that American cowboy alive drove him to launch the WRCA. Mitchell wanted to help the cowboy, and his family, who had been hurt working on the ranches. And he wanted to establish scholarships for ranch kids who wanted to go to college. “I didn’t want their father to have to leave his lifestyle,” Mitchell said. “I also wanted to educate the public and let them know that not all ranchers are land barons or J.R. Ewing’s. They are good salt-of-the-earth people, and I know darn well that if city people heard and got to know more about who these people are – if they had a connection with them – when environmental claims come along or developer types start talking down about the ranchers, maybe they would look into it a little more.”City folk will have a chance to connect when 100 working cowboys from 24 historic ranches and nine western states come to town to herd the cattle and compete in the Ride for the Brand Rodeo events that include wild cow milking, team sorting, trailer loading, team branding, ranch bronco riding and team doctoring.And those who attend will find out what cowboys do in their spare time.Don Edwards, touted as America’s No. 1 cowboy balladeer, and Sourdough Slim, a yodeling cowboy from Paradise, Calif., will start rodeo festivities with a Cowboy Concert. And Colorado Rancher Robert C. Norris, owner of the T Cross Ranches, will receive special recognition for his numerous contributions to the community.Kathleen Collins works with the WRCA, and she said the event is a celebration of western heritage. “Pro rodeo has left that behind,” she said. “There has been a void and an historic stadium that was underused. We’ve put it all together.”The Ride for the Brand detailsThe Ride for the Brand is a benefit for the Latigo Trails Heritage Centre. Located at the eastern edge of Black Forest, Latigo Trails is in its fourth year and offers a venue for Little Britches Rodeo, 4-H clubs, therapeutic riding clinics and many other community groups.Supporting Ride for the Brand: Best of the West Auctions, Centennial Reproduction Center, Colorado Springs Convention & Visitors’ Bureau, The Corner Cafe, Financial Directions, The Gazette, Gotcha Mobile Media, Lazy M 8 Land & Cattle Co., New England Financial, Norwood Development , Overhead Door, Rocky Mountain Coors Distributing, Sinton Dairy, the Smokebrush Foundation and Western Horseman Magazine.Best of the West Auctions will provide a western art auction and show at the Penrose indoor arena, adjacent to the rodeo grounds. The art may be previewed at www.BestOfTheWestAuctions.com.General admission for the event is $15. Children age 2 to 12 pay $5. Limited box and loge seats are available by calling 719-635-9975 or the Pikes Peak Center Box Office at 719-520-SHOW and all Tickets West and Western Warehouse locations in Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Tickets also will be available at the gate the evening of the rodeo, beginning at 4 p.m.
