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Seth Wilson and Scott Allerdings are limbering up, lunges and deep squats as they ready for the Jackson Hole Rodeo’s second night of the summer.
Wilson, a member of a six-generation Jackson Hole family running the rodeo for its sixteenth consecutive year, has a mustache resembling a young Wyatt Earp.
He calls himself a “bullfighter.”
In the seconds before he mounts a bull weighing up to a ton, he’s said he’s feeling “electric, any better and you’d call me a liar.”
Next to him, Allerdings has a red, white and blue foam hat atop his head and a mic strapped to the side of his face. The rodeo clown will rally the crowd, duck inside a barrel to avoid charging bulls, and lead a flock of children in a one-shoe foot race as part of his emcee responsibilities before the night ends.
The night’s biggest draw is a 23-year-old saddle bronc rider named Zac Dallas, who started at the Jackson Hole Rodeo riding broncs five years ago.
He’s on a professional circuit now, traveling the world, making a living riding bucking horses.
“And in this day and age, it doesn’t really get more western than that,” Dallas said.
He’s a rare get for the rodeo that usually features young cowboys just out of high school.
Even as one of the bigger names in rodeo now, used to competing in front of thousands, he said the Jackson crowd is special because for many, it’s their first rodeo.
“Jackson is awesome because they always fill the crowd,” he said.
An athlete behind the chutes accepts an embrace of support as he prepares to mount his bull in front of a sold out crowd. (Dante Filpula Ankney / KHOL)
On a Wednesday night in late May, as with most nights, the overwhelming majority of tight jeans, cowboy hats and boots in the crowd aren’t from around Jackson. Allerdings, the rodeo clown, calls out to attendees from California, New York and several states in between from the arena floor, garnering loud cheers.
Phillip Wilson is on the dirt arena directing bulls and broncs into the chutes. The 76-year old has run the rodeo with his family for the past 16 years. He estimates that less than 15% of fans are local.
Wilson attributes that ratio to Jackson’s tourism industry which sees millions of visitors each summer. Plus, the rodeo grounds are less than a mile from the town square, walking distance from most bars and hotels.
While every year brings new discussion of a disappearing “old west,” the rodeo is gaining popularity, with higher attendance year after year since the COVID-19 pandemic. Last season, Wilson says they sold out all but two of their 40 rodeos.
“We’re as full as we could stand for 38 rodeos, and then the other two were probably 98% full,” he said.
Wilson wants to grow the private family business, but sees a limit to the bottom line with revenue coming mostly from tickets which go for $40 to $60.
Paying the wages of staff putting on the show throughout the summer and buying and caring for rodeo livestock is growing more expensive, Wilson said. While the rodeo makes a profit now, he worries about a time when it wouldn’t.
Ideally, he said he’d have either more rodeos or more seating in the arena that holds 2,400 rodeo goers. Adding nights, he said, isn’t realistic because residents would complain about noise. More seats aren’t looking likely, at least not soon.
Jackson Hole Rodeo contracts with the town of Jackson to use the public grounds. Starting in 2022, the town faced community outcry against any changes of the land’s use, organized as “Save the Rodeo Grounds.” The primary fear is that councilors would change or sell the fairgrounds, with its prime location in town. Group leadership, which does not include the rodeo business, has ties connected to the far right political group “Honor Wyoming.”
The Jackson Hole Rodeo crowd is over 80% out-of-towners, according to owner Phil Wilson. (Dante Filpula Ankney / KHOL)
Redevelopment critics point to a chipping away of the original space of about 26 acres. In 2023, the town and county’s housing department broke ground on a corner formerly used during the week-long county fair for 48 low-income apartments. A year-round community center was moved across the street.
While the rodeo says it wants more space, town redevelopment plans have not included the arena.
Jackson Mayor Arne Jorgensen says the rodeo grounds have never been “at risk” of moving and changes would need to be discussed alongside the fairground’s lease.
Electeds are looking at extending a lease between the county commissioners and the town for the fairgrounds, which ends in 2030. That would give greater assurance to the rodeo.
“They have a tremendous amount that they should be very proud of in their success,” Jorgensen said, referring to the business. “But at the end of the day, it is a private business using public assets to put on a private show.”
Even if change is slow, Wilson has hope he’ll get more seating. He said it’s an important part of keeping Jackson’s Western culture alive.
“I feel like it’s a part of our history that needs to stay where it is,” he said.
This story has been updated online to correct the original fairground acreage to 26.— Ed.
