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Show Once the cowboys scan arriving, though, they know they've pulled off another rodeo. For a week, pickup trucks and livestock trailers jam city streets, waiting lines form at restaurants, and hotels book up solid. Throughout the week, rodeo organizers estimate that more than 50,000 people visit Pecos. ,TE(AS MV WLJ v - "You wouldn't know the plat," Exum says. "There's people everywhere. It's a different atmosphere then." r--to' - U S9B ff& fc'-' psV S2 I 1 1 np E a - B J a M &-Jm o4A-,4 a K39 W wfif WKV "TO-.r-- jam Tom have to have talent1 Before the rodeo gets going, residents flock to the celebration. cel-ebration. Night in Old Pecos and later to the Golden Girl Revue beauty pageant. Others gather for the Old Timer's Reunion, always held on the grounds of the West of the Pecos Museum, housed in the Number 1 1 Saloon (dat ing back to 1896) and the adjoining Orient Hotel (1904), right before the rodeo parade kicks off. Eventually, they'll be able to visit the planned Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame, which will be housed in the Texas and Pacific Railroad depot. Then conies the much-awaited event the rodeo's opening rught at the Buck Jackson Arena, where cowboys on horseback tear out of the chute to ride and rope. Scores of spectators, seated on wooden grandstands, mostly clad in jeans and boots, cheer wildly for tlieir favorite wranglers. "It's tick, tick, tick, as fast as you can go," says Exum, who directs arena events during the show. Early in the rodeo's history, area cowboys cow-boys competed in the various events, such as steer wrestling, bareback riding, bull riding, calf and steer roping, and team roping. These days, only card-carrying PRCA cowboys can participate. Sharlene Martinez, a rodeo committee member, is one of only a few Pecos residents who enter the hometown rodeo every year. "This is a unique rodeo in that you have to have a lot of talent to win," says Martinez, a professional barrel racer. "It's a large arena, too. You have to know what you're doing." Buck Jackson Arena also is known for its outstanding sod. "We start cultivating cul-tivating the ground a couple of months before the rodeo," Exum says. The work requires a tractor to disk the dirt and mix in just the right amount of water, sometimes amounting to three to five truckloads per day. "One year, it rained before the bull-riding event," Exum recalls. "So we hauled 200 to 300 pounds of cat litter in to absorb the moisture. mois-ture. We bought everything Wal-Mart had!" Putting on a rodeo year after year is hard work, time-consuming, and often thankless. Still, volunteers like Exum, Martinez, and McK-inney McK-inney ail close friends refuse to quit. "We will always have a rodeo here in Pecos on the Fourth of July," vows McKinney, fingering a silver commemorative "West of the Pecos Rodeo" bracelet on her wrist. "This is a part of history," she adds, "that no one can take away from Pecos, Texas." Sheryl Smith-Rodgm. a fredam uriterphfttograpbtr. Ittes in BLncn. Texas. GETTING THERE... Pecos is located in wes?:Texas2l3 rn3es eas. of S Pas For more t 5scosAreCham-; 5scosAreCham-; berof Gornrnereeat (9 5 5) 445-2454 or tog ; onto www.pessxStx.com. .J( z ' Wfes'i i jj mmn Y.'riJ ., I wsm & mm Log onto www.mypigeonforge.comwintrip for details and registration information. (Offer expires June 30, 2001.) T V' Free hotel actomncdatioRS for 3 days, 2 nights a. 1 'I .1; A J Free admission tc live musical shows and attractions Over $200 in gift certificates to area molls and restaurants if ' , |