JOSEPH — In what was “probably the most difficult decision the board has ever made,” Chief Joseph Days president Terry Jones and the CJD Rodeo board announced June 8 that they were canceling the rodeo for 2020, and instead would hold their 75th rodeo in summer 2021.

“The COVID-19 restriction to not more than 250 people in the best case scenario, maybe, by the end of July, and maybe not even that, made it impossible to put on a Chief Joseph Days that anyone would recognize,” Jones said. “It’s just not economically feasible. We’re better off to not have the rodeo than to have it and lose money.”

Jones said the cost of putting on the rodeo included around $200,000 in contract expense for acts, scoreboards, announcers and other basics.

“Once we say we are going to have the rodeo, we’ve got to make the money to cover it all,” he said. “It’s just not there.”

Not only was the rodeo facing restrictions imposed by the state of Oregon’s phased openings, but it also would have to deal with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys of America rules, which were almost equally daunting.

“The PRCA issued a 30-page set of ground rules that we would have to follow,” Jones said. “They included things like testing everyone who goes into the arena, including the audience, and sterilizing the bleachers, the bucking chutes, the timed event chutes, the boxes, and the flagpole every day. Even with an extra 300 volunteers, we couldn’t get it all done.”

He added, “We hung on thinking that by now or the first of July things would be open and you could hold events. And you can’t.”

With the rodeo office fielding calls from tourists and families wanting to know if the rodeo was going to be held, Jones and the board decided they had to make a decision now. The Walla Walla Rodeo was also canceled on June 8, leaving the Lakeview Rodeo in August as one of the few still scheduled.

The three rodeo court members will remain the rodeo court for the 75th rodeo on the last weekend of July 2021. And they’ll all be queens, too.

“The board decided to just have three equal court members,” Jones said. “They were all tickled to death with that.”

In a joint statement, the CJD board of directors said that in early March they started meeting every other week to discuss the options of having a rodeo like always in the last week of July.

“In the beginning, we felt very positive about our chances that the 75th annual Chief Joseph Days celebration would happen. As we got into April, our meetings became weekly. We talked about the pros and cons of holding Chief Joseph Days this year while trying to keep our community safe. We discussed the impact that canceling Chief Joseph Days would have not only on our community, our businesses, our supporters, our sponsors, and our loyal fans, but also on stock contractors, bull fighters, and many others including the vendors, contestants, and judges,” the board said.

“The one thing that was always the top priority and concern to our board was keeping our community, as well as our visitors, our Nez Perce encampment and their families safe from the spread of the virus. And so the directors have had to make one of the toughest decisions that any of the past 74 years of the Chief Joseph Days Rodeo boards ever had to make. That is to cancel this year’s Chief Joseph Days Rodeo. We still plan to have a 75th Chief Joseph Days Rodeo, only it will be on the last weekend of July, in 2021.”

Refunds will be issued soon to those who bought tickets for this year’s rodeo.

“Our sincere wishes go out to our fans, sponsors, contestants, vendors, volunteers, support staff, and everyone involved in Chief Joseph Days Rodeo family,” Jones said. “May you all remain safe and healthy. We will get through this together and come back even stronger in 2021.”