Lehi Round-Up Rodeo
Lehi Round-Up Rodeo
(1937-present)
The last full week of June, Lehi buzzes with the excitement of friendly competition, art, music, good food and community. During Lehi Round-Up Week, people fill the streets to cheer on the Stock Parade, Miniature Float Parade and the Grand Parade. They attend concerts, art shows, a pancake breakfast and so much more. At the center of all these celebrations is the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo.
In 1937, the Lehi rodeo became part of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, or PRCA. In 1941, Lehi’s rodeo committee, known as the Lehi Civic Improvement Association (CIA), was created to “foster, promote, and sponsor worthwhile activities that would be a community benefit.” In one of its very first acts, the CIA held a contest to give a permanent name to an annual community festival and rodeo. Lehi resident Ethel Hunger won with her entry, “The Lehi Roundup.”
From the late 1930s up to this writing, in 2024, the rodeo has consisted of three nights of entertainment with a fourth night, Wednesday, being added in 2024 to accommodate more spectators. Thursday has typically been a family night with discounted rates. Recently, Saturday nights have been designated, “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” nights in support of breast cancer. Along with the rodeo, a stock parade on Thursday winds its way from Wines Park to the rodeo grounds. Anyone with a horse is invited to participate while community members gather along the parade route to support family and friends. For years, the rodeo has ended with a community “dirt dance.”
At the rodeo, spectators line up for Lehi’s famous, and affordable, “Rodeo Burger” with its delicious secret sauce. Concessions are prepared by volunteers, mostly gathered and organized through congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This volunteer spirit allows all proceeds from the rodeo to be invested back into the community.
Lehi Round-Up Week has been the highlight of summers in Lehi for decades. Of course, the history of the rodeo grounds, the rodeo and Lehi community celebrations is much older than the Round-Up itself.
The Rodeo Grounds
At the turn of the 20th century, the growing city of Lehi found itself in need of a public park. After a few false starts, the city settled on a plot of land near the first Lehi settlement. The land, purchased from John Beck, already included a beautiful grove of black willow trees and soon housed a baseball diamond and grandstand, a bicycle path, and an enclosed pavilion. Baseball was a popular pastime for both players and fans. The pavilion hosted political rallies, basketball games, family reunions, church services and, above all, dances. City Park was a center of Lehi community activity for many years but, as time passed and Lehi changed and grew, City Park was used less and less. Dances moved to the new Smuin Dancing Academy, now Abbington Manor on the northwest corner of Center Street and 200 North, church services and political gatherings found quieter locations, even baseball, interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, when hundreds of Lehi men joined the service, was less of a draw. Eventually, the new Wines Park, at 600 N. Center St., became a more popular location for picnics and reunions.
By 1914, the City Park pavilion was falling into disrepair. For a time, in the hope that it would continue to be useful, the building was used as a gymnasium and leased as a skating rink. Neither endeavor was successful, and the pavilion was torn down in 1919. The city debated what to do with the park for many years. At one point, it was suggested that the park be turned into a standard athletic field for the high school, but a location closer to the school was found.
Finally, in the early 1930s, the city decided to convert the park into a permanent rodeo ground. Using workers from the Federal Reconstruction Finance Corp, bleachers, judging stands and corrals were moved from Israel Evans’ ranch to the park—where the Black Willow grove provided welcome shade. In 1938, a Works Progress Administration grant allowed the city to add new chutes, seating and fencing. In 1940, official rodeo inspectors called the grounds, “The best … in the state with 3,000 seats in the shade.” Over the years, gradual improvements have added more space, better sound systems and made certain the rodeo grounds continue to serve the animals, competitors and community. Sadly, the trees, which were growing old, were eventually removed to provide more room for stock and spectatorsv
LOCATION MARKER
105 N 500 W St Lehi, UT 84043
