The new bull riding event will now make Summit County’s biggest rodeo five days.
Xtreme Bulls is run by the PRCA, which sanctions the Oakley rodeo. Oakley’s rodeo already has bull riding; Xtreme Bulls will be a standalone event, with its own purse of $35,000.
Rodeo Committee Chair Wade Woolstenhulme said it will likely attract the same lineup of bull riders who compete on the PRCA circuit. That includes a Utah favorite, Beaver County superstar Stetson Wright, who held on for a full eight seconds in Oakley this year.
“They will be able to come and have a chance to making quite a bit of extra money that goes towards qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo at the end of the year,” Woolstenhulme said.
It will also be a Division 1 event.
“So we'll have 40 of the top bull riders in the world here, and we'll also have some of the top stocks in the world here," he said.
The 88th annual Oakley Independence Day Rodeo this year was the first time the city used a new livestock producer, Dallas-based Pete Carr Pro Rodeo.
“I think it was the best four performances we've ever had at Oakley," Woolstenhulme said. "As far as the quality of livestock and the quality of contestants and the atmosphere as a whole—there wasn't a bad night.”
Woolstenhulme says Carr will stock the Xtreme Bulls event in 2024 too. With 2023’s new stock and a purse twice as large as before, the Oakley rodeo is growing.
“By adding the money we added last year, it bumped us up in the top 35 rodeos in the world, as far as payout money, payout to the cowboys. And so eventually we'd like to see it increase even more, climb up that ladder a little farther,” Woolstenhulme said.
He says the rodeo committee’s next move is finding a consultant to help increase and upgrade stadium seating.
