Oakley City has announced that its iconic July Fourth Rodeo will still be held, but on a reduced scale.
The event will be held with social distancing and a limited crowd size.
In a press statement issued on May 30th, Mayor Wade Woolstenhulme said, “With safety and financial factors, it has really been a moving target, but with the latest guidelines Oakley City is ready to move forward with a limited version of the 85th Annual Oakley Rodeo.”
The city anticipates holding a limited rodeo on July 2nd to the 4th—Thursday to Saturday—and will allow for 850 spectators per night. That’s 15 percent of their normal capacity.
The city said they expect to offer tickets to the limited Rodeo through a lottery system that will be introduced this coming week on their website, “oakleycity.com” and their Facebook and Instagram pages.
The cost of the tickets will be $310 for a family group of ten and a parking pass.
The city announced that tickets previously bought for the 2020 Rodeo will be rolled over to the 2021 event.
They said the Oakley Rodeo, along with Frontier Days in Prescott, Arizona are the first rodeos to be held since the COVID-19 outbreak.
The city added that the first night, Thursday, is reserved for sponsors and those making a donation of $1000 for ten tickets.
Among the safety measures, the rodeo starts an hour earlier, at 7 p.m., to allow for sanitizing between events. Ticket holders will receive a custom bandana with an Oakley Rodeo logo. Spectators and volunteers are required to wear a bandana or mask, or they will be escorted out of the arena
The City announced that the Oakley Parade and Children’s Rodeo have been cancelled. However, they are working on a plan to have the annual Patriotic Program on July 4th in the soccer fields, with appropriate social distancing..
They also said the rodeo will be live-streamed on the Cowboy Channel Plus app.
