(bright tones) - [Narrator] On this episode of "Postcards".

- When I say it's the second largest rodeo in the state, the second largest added money, the more added money you have, the more appealing it is for cowboys and cowgirls to come.

- The thing I enjoy most about the rodeos is the people.

Everyone's so down to earth, they're very fun to be around.

That's what I like about it.

- It is billed as the roughest sport on your body.

I think that's just because them horses are so athletic.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen, on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar, an arts and Cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in west central Minnesota.

On the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96 7 KRAM, online at 967kram.com.

(upbeat intense music) - Getting that much closer to showtime on a Thursday night, are you guys getting ready to ride?

(crowd cheering) (upbeat intense music) - Well, what I love about Western Fest is it's our annual town celebration.

This is our 34th year of the PRCA Western Fest Rodeo.

And we're really excited, we have 444 contestants.

I've been a rodeo committee member for over 20 years and we just love getting ready for this every year.

(upbeat country music) - We figure that we have about 2000 people a night.

So, 5000 to 6000 people will come over the three nights to the rodeo.

(upbeat country music) - [Producer] You having fun?

- Oh yeah, I gotta, gotta have fun.

Gotta packed house, how could ask for more?

(upbeat country music) - [Rodeo Announcer] We tell you this, we're moments away from pro Rodeo dreams, welcome!

- [John] Granite Falls had hosted rodeo for approximately 80 years, not quite, but we're approaching that real quick.

Granite Falls was the home of High School Rodeo, which went on till 1988.

The last year was the first year that I was the chairman of Western Fest.

The Lee-Mar Ranch, the Lee is Bud Lee Mooney and his wife Martha, so, the Lee-Mar Ranch.

Bud and Martha started this whole thing and Bud was real active with High School Rodeo.

He was on the board and they got it moved to Granite Falls and this was the home as long as Bud lived.

They were a great family, Bud and Martha, they loved rodeo and they said we could always have this site for high school rodeo, or pro rodeo, after we changed.

(poignant country music) - [Announcer] Well, sir, let me tell you, our little old cow town never had seen such goings on.

Billy's youngsters hit us with posters most everywhere we went.

Pretty soon, we were just as head up about the junior rodeo as Billy and the kids themselves.

Most everybody in towns turned out for the great day.

(upbeat funky country music) - On Thursday mornings is Slack.

That's all the extra contestants that we have that don't make performance in the evenings.

(upbeat epic music) - [John] Some don't want to be in the main performance because they might have a young horse that would get spooked by crowds.

So they try to go in Slack and so it's the same as the nighttime performances.

They do the same events and just try to get the best time.

(upbeat epic music) - And so we have a lot of local schools and daycare centers that come, tour the grounds, get to see the horses and get to see what a rodeo's like before the rodeo is actually started.

(upbeat polka music) - [Leader] Alright, welcome, kids.

(all cheering) - [Rodeo Announcer] Mutton busting time, as we get it on today.

They only gotta ride eight seconds in the bareback, saddle bronc and bull riding, that kid rode about double tonight.

What about the first mutton buster outta the gate, everybody?

(crowd cheering) - Most people, when they think of rodeo, it'd probably be bucking bulls or bucking horses.

Roughstock are the horse events, bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and then the bull riding, so those are kind of the featured events.

Now, people that are in timed events, which are calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping, and the women's professional barrel race.

They would think their event is the best in the, so everybody's got their favorite event.

Bull riding is always the last event of the night.

People love bull riding and they all stay till the end.

(epic country music) Professional rodeo is really a family event.

There's something for everyone.

We have a rodeo clown, who's the funny guy joking with the crowd, doing things.

- Now I'm gonna catch the apple.

I'm gonna juggle it and eat the apple.

All right.

All right, Garret, throw the apple.

Throw it, throw it.

What the?

What was that?

For the Green Bay?

- [John] In between every event they have a walk and talk or something to keep the audience involved.

And then you have this featured act, which is called a Specialty Act.

- [Rodeo Announcer] Please welcome to the arena, the 2020 PRCA Pro Rodeo Dress Act of the Year.

It's Rider Kiesner and Bethany Iles.

Those with the fire whips, make some noise for Rider Kiesner.

And the beautiful Bethany Iles, she's a trick and fancy rider.

The more noise you make, the faster he'll go.

(frantic music) Rider Kiesner and Bethany Iles!

- Well, when I say it's the second largest rodeo in the state, the second largest added money rodeo in the state.

I certainly wouldn't claim we have more attendance than St. Paul, Minnesota, but we do have more added money, which attracts cowboys.

The more added money you have, the more appealing it is for cowboys and cowgirls to come.

It's a professional sport.

It's no different than professional baseball or football, contestants compete for a year with trying to get to the National Finals Rodeo, which is held in Las Vegas every year, starting the first Thursday in December.

So all the money won by cowboys at our rodeo is added to their bank rolls and the top 15 in the world compete for the National Final Rodeo.

(epic music) - Our hometown hero, Tanner Aus, which I babysat, I was his babysitter, is riding Thursday night of the rodeo.

- Tanner is definitely the highlight for me for the rodeo.

I mean, I follow him.

I have the Cowboy Channel, so when I know he is going to be on TV, I'm always watching Tanner and when he is home, I love to talk with him and I'll see him when, in Vegas.

And he won't be here long on Thursday night.

After he rides, he's gotta get in the car and take off for Clear Lake, South Dakota for the rodeo out there.

- [Rodeo Announcer] Make some noise to tell him who we are behind.

Are you ready for Tanner Aus!

(epic music) - So, in the course of my travel, I get asked often, what's your favorite rodeo?

And the obvious answers are the big ones.

We get to go to Cheyenne Frontier Days, we get to go to Calgary Stampede, we get to go to the Houston Livestock Show, I mean, just incredible places.

But my answer's always the same.

Granite Falls, Western Fest Stampede Rodeo, it's the hometown, nothing beats it.

I got such fond memories.

I was just floored by the whole thing.

It feels the same when I go there and I love it and I'm so glad to be back.

(epic music) - I think rodeo is American culture.

Everybody grew up watching John Wayne in the old Westerns.

- You sure got us out of a jam that time, stranger.

Nice riding.

You don't happen to be going to the Dalton Rodeo, do you?

- Yes, I am.

- Well, tie your horse on behind and ride in with us.

- Thanks, I'll do that.

(slow old time country music) - Western Fest is just a long time tradition.

I remember being in the kiddie parade, way back when I was a little girl and we had our little Shetland pony in the kiddie parade and I've just had a love for Granite Falls and the community, we're all are really close knit.

And it's just a great way to come out on a summer night and enjoy the rodeo.

(slow old time country music) - I never thought I'd be running Western Fest this long, but it is kind of a lifelong passion and so I do enjoy it.

My family always enjoyed it.

My kids have grown up with it.

And my wife, she runs the beer garden during Western Fest, so it is a family affair.

I'm not a cowboy, but for our week of rodeo and the week in Las Vegas, I wear a hat and boots and they don't know if you're a cowboy or not.

So, it's just community involvement and I grew up here, I love Granite Falls and just want to stay involved and our celebration is a great celebration, it's just a good get-together.

(slow old time country music) - [Rodeo Announcer] Sure and show your appreciation to all of these folks for making Minnesota State High School Rodeo possible.

(epic rock music) - I'm Chloe Hatzenbeller, I've been doing rodeo photography for about 10 years now, 11?

(epic rock music) I've been traveling kind of all over and doing this for the fun of it.

And my good hobby became a good business for me.

(epic rock music) So I typically just try to keep the one lens and body on me, so I'm not hauling this whole bag around 'cause it just gets way too much.

I don't wanna wreck anything.

I did have a horse, one time, step on my bag with all my gear in it.

Everything survived.

Nothing broke, thank God.

But yeah, it scared the crap outta me.

Her horse was just getting outta hand and I had to just drop and run and watch my bag.

So the challenges of rodeo, it's everything.

You don't get a second chance to take the pictures, to get the shot and the lighting is usually crap.

But yeah, you just don't get second shots to take the picture over again.

It's not like people are posing for these and you just gotta photograph the action as best you can.

(smooth country music) The thing I enjoy most about the rodeos is the people.

They're just, everyone's so down to earth, they're very fun to be around, that's what I like about it.

(epic country music) I've taken hundreds of thousands of photos over the years, but one of my favorite photos, it was, I think, the first or second year I started rodeo and it was a downpour in Clearwater, Minnesota.

This bull, just as he was bucking, he was straight up and down, the rider was straight up and down.

The colors were just perfect.

I froze the rain and that's one of my favorite pictures.

It had a lot of acknowledgement and it was just a fun one to take.

(bright country music) In 2019, I received the Central Bull Riders and Barrel Racers Association Photographer of the Year.

I was going to five events per month in that summer.

So I had about, it ended up being around 19 to 20 events within four months.

At the end of the year, they did their finals bulls and barrels event, and then they presented awards on the last day and since I went to so many of their events, I ended up getting the Photographer of the Year award and that was huge, I liked that a lot.

It was fun and I was very proud of myself for that.

(calm rock music) Growing up in Madison, it's just the perfect little small town, I love it here.

You go anywhere, you know at least one person and they all kind of know you, too.

It helps when you're one of the only adopted Korean kids in town, but yeah, you stick out.

But yeah, it's a fun little small town.

There's always something going on here, it seems like.

(epic country music) I loved growing up on the farm.

You just, you can kind of wake up and do whatever you want to.

I mean, we went for four-wheeler rides all the time.

My brothers had a dirt bike that they would jump the road with, but I used to, in high school, I would wake up at like five in the morning or four in the morning to go ride horse before it got too hot outside.

It's just the freedom to kind of do whatever you want out on the farm with, you know, legally.

(laughing) (intense music) A little baby, you don't want one?

Yeah, you do!

Rodeo's a very American, down-to-earth, good old boys sport.

There's a lot of people that think they can do it, that think they can handle it, they don't realize how much time and effort it takes into it.

They don't see the behind the scenes that everybody else does, either.

The training during the week and with their horse or bull riders, if they're training on their own bucking dummies, they actually have robotic dummies that they can just practice where their body is gonna be.

Barrel racers are training, riding their horses, working patterns, getting 'em conditioned.

Same with ropers and everyone, everyone's training.

And so it's not for everyone, but it's definitely an American pastime.

(epic music) - [Narrator] In mid-September 1862, more than 1600 soldiers commanded by Colonel Henry Sibley marched northwest from Fort Ridgeley into the Minnesota River Valley with an aim to end the US Dakota War.

Word of that movement reached the Dakota warrior's lodge near present day Montevideo, sparking a debate about the most effective campaign to permanently defeat the enemy.

Dakota leader, Little Crow, argued for a risky nighttime attack.

Others called that cowardly, preferring to attack in the early morning hours.

Sibley's command camped here, the site of the Lone Tree Lake, which has since disappeared.

At the time of the war, Lone Tree Lake was mistaken for Wood Lake, three and a half miles to the west.

At dawn, on September 23rd, 1862, hundreds of Dakota warriors prepared to attack from the tall grass near Sibley's encampment, three miles south of the Yellow Medicine agency known today as the Upper Sioux community.

The ambush was thwarted when several men from Sibley's camp left in a wagon in search of potatoes.

Gunfire erupted as the wagons threatened to run over the Dakota, alerting the soldiers at Sibley's camp.

Battle-hardened Civil War Veterans of the Third Minnesota Infantry sprang into action, bolstering the raw recruits and volunteers during this final battle of the war.

Two hours of fighting on the 600-acre site brought victory for Sibley's command and put an end to the war.

Little Crow retreated westward with 200 to 300 warriors who refused to surrender.

The Dakota who surrendered were taken into custody.

Almost 400 men, including non-combatants, were hastily tried by a military tribunal.

Of those 400, 303 Dakota men were found guilty and sentenced to hanging.

Aides to President Abraham Lincoln reviewed the records and Lincoln reduced the sentences.

(poignant music) On December 26th, 1862 in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 men were sentenced to hang in what became the largest mass execution in US history.

(poignant music) (bright music) - [Rodeo Announcer] You know him as a $2 million bareback rider.

Let's make some noise to tell him who we are behind.

Are you ready for Tanner Aus?

- We put him on a horse when he was nine years old.

Which looking back that was maybe a little early, we probably should have waited a year or two.

He went about nine feet in the air and then popped down on his feet and got up with a smile on his face.

♪ I walk through the valley of the shadow ♪ ♪ And I hold my head up high ♪ - We laugh so hard when people say he's famous 'cause we're just like, that's funny.

- Yeah, we don't see him as famous, but I don't think he sees himself as famous either.

- I mean, he's cool.

We think he's cool, too.

But yeah, it's just always been our brother.

- [Mom] Hey, Tan.

- [Tanner] Hey, Mom.

- How you doing?

Good to see ya.

♪ I'm ready ♪ ♪ Ready as I'm ever gonna be ♪ ♪ I'm ready ♪ ♪ Are you ready for me ♪ - It is billed as the roughest sport on your body.

I think that's just because them horses are so athletic.

Bareback riding, I mean, your hand is tied off in that rigging and wherever that horse goes, you're going.

It might be pretty, but it might not go as planned either.

I didn't win.

I didn't even actually get close.

- [Driver] You just wanted to share, right?

- No.

(epic music) The higher the jump, the harder they buck, the better he rides, the better the score.

- Rodeo is so much fun and there's a lot of positives, but it can be stressful, just in regards of trying to figure out your life, like on a Monday, what it's gonna look like for the rest of the week.

(epic music) - My kids are probably the least understanding of it, but they sure are happy to see me when I get home and I miss 'em like heck when I'm gone.

And I hope that when they look back on it someday they won't think that, dad was just gone all the time.

(epic music) ♪ I'm ready ♪ ♪ Ready as I'm ever gonna be ♪ ♪ I'm ready ♪ ♪ I'm ready ♪ ♪ For the light to shine on me ♪ ♪ I'm ready ♪ ♪ As I'm ever gonna be ♪ ♪ Are you ready ♪ ♪ Are you ready for me ♪ (epic music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by Margaret A Cargill Philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in west central Minnesota.

On the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96 7 KRAM, online at 967kram.com.

(upbeat music)