Okmulgee, Oklahoma
Words & photos by Ivan McClellan
It was 105° in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, and the mid-August humidity was a perfect and profoundly dense 100 percent. Massive GMO-fed grasshoppers slammed against the windshield as I drove into town. Reservation police followed me as I parked in the grass outside the arena and maintained a heavy presence throughout the event. In previous years the combination of heat, cowboys, and alcohol have led to a level of rowdiness that eventually prompted the city to move the event from downtown Okmulgee to a small arena on Creek Nation land just outside of town.
Competitors from coast to coast had traveled there for the Roy Leblanc Invitational Rodeo. Their trailers filled the rodeo grounds outside the arena, and the makeshift camp served as a home away from home for rodeo athletes who live on the road year-round and horse clubs who plan their vacations to come every year to ride in the parade.
Locals lined Main Street downtown early to get a decent spot for the parade. My white button-down was soaked with sweat, but everyone who lives there was inexplicably bone dry and cozy in the sweltering heat. Riding clubs are staged at the beginning of the route wearing ornate chaps and matching cowboy outfits. One rider wore a leather duster the entire parade: didn’t sweat one drop. A line of shiny hydraulic lifted lowriders kicked off the parade; their open trunks full of speakers blaring music as drill teams in tank tops and cutoff shorts followed behind performing choreographed dance routines.
As dusk rolls into the arena the atmosphere changes from light and cordial to intense as the riders saddle up and prepare for competition. The crowd slowly trickles in and the bugs take their position around the stadium lights. There is a dress code requiring a cowboy hat, pressed button-down shirt, jeans, and boots for anyone participating in the event. Even in the oppressive heat, there was a lone rider who came in wearing a tank top and no hat. He was a last-minute replacement on his team, but the crowd and the announcer gave him no mercy –” looks like somebody forgot he had a race today”–the crowd chucked as the rider looked embarrassed and uncomfortable.
