In 1940, when life in Sisters still moved slowly enough for front-porch conversations and big day dreams, a group of local couples pooled $10,000 together to start a rodeo on the edge of town. Cowboys, both local hands and top contenders, pinned hand-painted numbers to their shirts and rode for purses that matched the Pendleton Round Up and Cheyenne Frontier Days. Impressed that such a small town offered such big prize money, they nicknamed it “The Biggest Little Show in the World,” a title that has stayed with Sister Rodeo ever since.

From the beginning, the rodeo was powered almost entirely by volunteers and neighbors who refused to let it fade. Timber donated from the Hitchcock Mill became hand-built stands and arena fences; Buckaroo Breakfasts sizzle at sunrise. That resilience carried Sisters Rodeo from borrowed fences on ranchland to its permanent 33-acre home purchased in 1979 located east of town.

Today, Sisters Rodeo stands as a premier stop on the PRCA circuit, recognized as the Rodeo of the Year in the Columbia River Circuit and featured on national stages from the New York Times to late-night television. When you come to the Sisters Rodeo, you’re not just watching a performance, you’re stepping into a story that’s been written by generations.

“When floods, regulations, and financial strain threatened the event, community members hauled bleachers, laid hose lines, and pumped water through the night rather than let the chutes go quiet.”