A contestant gives the bull-riding event a whirl in this undated photo from Mountain High Broncs and Bulls. The one-day rodeo likely is the only free-admission rodeo in Northeast Oregon. 

Joseph — Even though it occurred two decades ago, it’s a dinner that Lee Daggett still remembers vividly.

Daggett, a longtime rodeo announcer, was enjoying a steak dinner with a stock contractor in Cascade, Idaho. The contractor was holding forth about how Cascade was ripe for a bull-riding event in town.

“Then he looked at me, and said, ‘you know, another place that needs rough stock bull riding, is your town of Enterprise.’ And suddenly, the light bulb went off.”

Today, the 2023 edition of Mountain High Broncs and Bulls, the rodeo event that began with that conversation, is scheduled for Saturday, June 17. For the second year, the event will be held at the Harley Tucker Memorial Arena in Joseph.

Admission to the one-day rodeo is free. (See the related box for more information.)

Daggett, the president of the rodeo, said it hasn’t strayed much from its roots over the years.

“We are just a rough stock show,” he said on Friday, June 9. “We are not a full rodeo, do not want to be a full rodeo.”

So Mountain High features just a handful of main events: bull riding, ranch saddle bronc riding, and wild horse riding, an event in which teams of three people race to see how long it takes them to get a wild horse across a finish line. It’s an unpredictable and entertaining event, Daggett said.

Mountain High also features events aimed at younger cowpokes, including mutton busting and a sheep money scramble.

The ranch saddle bronc riding event is a good example of how Mountain High has tried to stay close to the historic origins of rodeo, Daggett said.

“We designed this years ago to allow a kid who had 50 bucks or 100 bucks in pocket for an entry fee to come and compete with others who were not professional rodeo athletes,” he said. “The crowd just loves the purity of a real cowboy coming to town with a real saddle.”

Similarly, the decision to make admission to Mountain High free also was meant in part to increase accessibility to the event, Daggett said.

“From day one, we decided we wanted to be a pure nonprofit event and we wanted to make it a celebration and we wanted it especially to be affordable,” he said. So Daggett and other board members concentrated on lining up sponsors for Mountain High, and he said those sponsorships cover almost all of the rodeo’s costs.

And the public has appreciated it, he said. Last year’s Mountain High, held on a cold and rainy day, attracted some 2,100 people. This year, with partly cloudy skies and a high of 71 forecasted for Saturday, organizers are hoping to attract a crowd of 3,000.

WHEN: Saturday, June 17. The preshow, featuring mutton busting (with kids riding sheep) starts at 4:30 p.m., with the main show starting at 5 p.m.

WHERE: Harley Tucker Memorial Rodeo Grounds, 405 W. Wallowa Ave., Joseph.

HOW MUCH: Admission to the rodeo is free.

WEBSITE: mountainhighrodeo.com.