July 8, 2022 |
No bull. The historically high price of fuel is putting a half-hitch tie-down on rodeo events this summer. The impacts will be felt in Saratoga. The local organizers of the Saratoga Bullfest have canceled this year’s popular event. They say the high price of fuel is keeping outfits at home.
Bo Alameda sent a letter to sponsors this week with the bad news. “After 20 years of putting on successful Bullfests,” the card reads, “we regret to inform you that we will not be holding the 2022 Saratoga Bullfest.”
Rising costs are to blame. With the price of regular gasoline around $5.00 a gallon or more, and worse, diesel running upwards to $6.00, the outfits that provide the bulls and the cowboys that ride them are staying off the road and close to home. Alameda said that means he can’t put on the quality event that folks want to see.
Pictured above: Photo by Pam Meyer, courtesy of Saratoga Bullfest/Facebook.
Fans want to go and see man versus beast. It’s the contestants than can’t afford to travel the circuit this summer. The contestants just aren’t the cowboys who risk their lives climbing onto one of those bulls and riding it for eight seconds. The rough stock teams compete for purses, as well.
Filling up a 50-gallon fuel tank on a Dodge 3500 diesel pickup or comparable model from a competitor runs $300. If you’re lucky, you might squeeze out 15 miles per gallon on a road trip to the next rodeo. So contestants are not hitting every event they can this summer, chasing purses. In past years, before inflation and gas prices hit historic highs, Alameda could count on teams coming in from all over.
This year the uncertainty of the economy had made the outfits that provide the bull teams “wishy-washy” on whether they’d come or not, Alameda said.
With not sign of that happening, and inflation running roughshod over every aspect of the economy, Alameda shut the gate early on the Bullfest. He never put out an invite to the riders. Contract help has been notified, along with the local sponsors of the event. Alameda said he’s hoping things improve by next year so he can stage a bigger and better event.
On average some 750-800 people or more turn out to the Bullfest, traditionally held on a Saturday night in August.
