MONROE — This is not your typical rodeo.
Saturday, the Evergreen State Fairgrounds hosts a jaripeo — sometimes called Mexican rodeo — which combines bull riding with regional Mexican music and a horse show.
The sport is not a rare occurrence in cities like Monroe, Puyallup and Wenatchee. The Evergreen State Fairgrounds has hosted jaripeos in July and October during the past two years, operations assistant Brenda Granstrom said.
Organizers of Saturday’s rodeo say it’s a fun family event. Participants say it’s the adrenaline rush that makes them ride the bulls.
“It feels good to ride a bull to please the audience. You feel the adrenaline rush in,” said bull rider Luis Manuel Tiznado Gonzalez, 22.
Tiznado, of Lynnwood, started riding bulls when he was 15 years old in his native state of Nayarit. He has ridden bulls for the past seven years, and suffered several injuries including twisted ankles and wrists. Last year, a bull stepped on his chest during a jaripeo in Enumclaw. The injury put him in the hospital for three days and he couldn’t walk for a month, he said.
“I have been hit in all my body, but that’s how it is in the jaripeo,” Tiznado said. “You just don’t know what to expect.”
Tiznado is one of 15 bull riders scheduled to compete for the prize of $4,000 Saturday. This is a competition where the riders are divided in three teams named after the Mexican state they are from: Jalisco, Nayarit and Michoacan.
This event is organized by Promociones Nayarit, which also organized another jaripeo last year which drew about 1,000 people, promoter Candido Hernandez said.
Jaripeo is a strong Mexican tradition which has been celebrated ever since the country was a Spanish colony. It started growing and spreading. It also generated a similar style of rodeo, la charreada or charreria, which includes competitive riding and roping events with bulls and horses. In Mexico, jaripeos have become an organized sport. In May, there was the first national jaripeo championship.
Saturday’s jaripeo will have a dancing horses competition, and a dance featuring regional Mexican music ranchero bands.
In American bull riding, the rider tries to stay on the animal for eight seconds. In jaripeo, riders have to hang on until the bull gets tired.
“If it was eight seconds, it would be better for us,” said professional bull rider Jose Talavera, of Lynnwood.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.
If you go
The jaripeo — a Mexican rodeo — is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the indoor arena of the Evergreen State Fairgrounds, in 14405 179th Ave SE, Monroe. Tickets are $30.
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