Local businessman’s uncle founded Polson rodeo
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POLSON — Cowgirls and cowboys will flock to the Polson fairgrounds this weekend for the annual Mission Mountain Rodeo. What many rodeo fans may not realize is, if it hadn’t been for Les Baldwin, there might not be a rodeo or nice fairgrounds.
Known as the father of Polson rodeo, Baldwin organized the first Polson rodeo in 1939, according to Jim Duford, Baldwin’s nephew.
Originally called the Pioneer Days Rodeo, an event still held annually in Ronan, the Polson rodeo drew big-name participants. First rodeo cowboys would rope and ride at Cheyenne Frontier Days, then travel to Polson, continue on to the Calgary Stampede and end up at the Pendleton Roundup, Duford said.
Fay Haynes served as rodeo secretary for years, Duford said, and he also remembers stock contractors Jakie Johnson from Hot Springs and Leo Cremer and announcer Cy Taillon. A program from the early 60s lists contestants such as PRCA world champions and frequent winners Walt Linderman, Benny Reynolds, Paul Mayo, Dean Oliver, Clyde Vamvorous, Jack Bushbaum, Larry Mahan, Barry Burk, George Richmond, Ethel Ogilvie and Lila Mae Stewart.
Baldwin spearheaded building a racetrack and a grandstand since the rodeo featured horse races and chuckwagon races, and spectators needed a place to sit.
During early Polson rodeos, Salish and Kootenai tribal members put up tepees at the fairgrounds and displayed the beauty and color of their traditional regalia in the rodeo parade and grand entry, Duford recalled.
Duford was a severe asthmatic as a child, he said, and came to live with his aunt and uncle, Les and Irene Baldwin, when he was 11. The hope was the Montana air would make it easier for Duford to breathe. He remembers riding with his Uncle Les in a pickup with a water tank in the back watering the shrubs Baldwin planted to form a hedge at the fairgrounds.
Duford said H.S. Hanson, Hib Hanson’s dad and also president of Security State Bank, donated the land for the fairgrounds.
An April 26, 1976, clipping from The Flathead Courier noted that Baldwin, Hanson, J.F. McAlear and Ralph Tower were honored for their parts in establishing the Polson rodeo and fairgrounds.
Baldwin grew up in South Dakota and then moved to Miles City. He was always a cowboy, Duford said, and loved the west, horses, cattle and stockmen.
“Les nursed the fairgrounds from nothing,” Duford noted. “His life was that fairgrounds.”
Mission Mountain Rodeo performances will be at 8 p.m. on Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25. Youth events, mutton bustin’ and miniature bull riding begin at 7 p.m.
