Ram Rodeo entries due Tuesday

Entries for the 2016 Great Northern Ram Rodeo, which will take place Thursday and Friday of the fair, will be taken by phone all day Tuesday.

Normally a sanctioned rodeo open only to Northern Rodeo Association and Indian rodeo association riders, this year’s rodeo at the Great Northern Fair will be an entirely open event, allowing any competitors a chance to compete with rodeo association card holders, co-organizer Clint Solomon said.

Entries can be phoned in Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. by calling 406-338-7811. Call backs will be Wednesday from noon to 5 p.m.

Entry fee is $65 for open events — bull riding, saddle bronc, bareback, steer wrestling, team roping, tie-down roping, ladies barrel race and ladies breakaway roping.

Entry fee is $20 for age 16 and younger in junior events — barrel racing, breakaway roping and bull riding.

The rodeo’s official Facebook page says contestants in the open events also can enter twice. The $65 entry fee will have to be paid for each entry, and barrel racers will have to ride a different horse during each run.

In addition to the regular events, Thursday night will have a ladies calf dressing competition for three-woman teams and Friday night will have a wild bronc riding competition with no regulations on the saddle. Competitors in wild bronc riding often ride in a costume of some sort, Solomon said.

Entry for these two special events is $50, and they have a payout and prizes for the winners. People can find out more information or register by calling 406-390-5060.

Billed as Montana’s richest rodeo, the prize incentives this year are generous thanks to the help of the many donors, Solomon said.

Along with the $1,500 payout for the rough stock events, $1,000 for the other open events and $250 for junior events, black powder pistols will go to the winners of each of the open events and buckles to the winners of the junior events.

For those people who wish to watch rather than compete, Thursday is Family Night, so kids 10 and younger get in free. General admission both nights is $10, and Friday tickets for kids 10 and younger are $5 and kids 5 and younger get in free.

The rodeo starts at 7 p.m. both Thursday and Friday, but organizers said the crowd will want to arrive by 6:30 p.m. Friday to watch the longhorn stampede. A herd of longhorns from Lodge Creek Longhorns will be driven over the hill from the south into the fairgrounds.

For up-to-date information, people can go online to the Great Northern Ram Rodeo Facebook page.