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DAYTON–The Columbia County Fairgrounds were the site of a two-day Dayton Days Rodeo last weekend, kicking off Memorial Day Weekend and the summer with two nice and beautiful days where folks from near and far enjoyed the activities and events, including the Dayton Days Parade in downtown Dayton on Saturday.
There were full cards of rodeo acton, including ranch bronc riding, tie-down roping, mutton bustin', breakaway roping, team roping, drill teams, steer riding, junior barrel racing, chute doggin', barrel racing and bull riding.
Local cowboy Curtis Winona won the ranch bronc riding.
Marshall Ritchie, another local cowboy, won the mutton bustin' event.
Dozens of cowboys from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana traveled to Dayton to participate in the two-day rodeo, which had a 6 p.m. performance on Friday and a 1 p.m. rodeo on Saturday.
Saturday's Dayton Days Parade, sponsored by the Dayton Chamber of Commerce, was sprinkled on a bit, but a good crowd turned out to see the traditional floats, entries, royal mounted courts and other parading vehicles.
By 1 p.m. on Saturday, the overcast moved away from Dayton and sunshine broke out over the Columbia County Fairgrounds for a beautiful afternoon of rodeo.
The rodeo was put on by Dayton Days, Inc., with help from the Columbia County Fair Association. The stock contrctor was Bar X Ranches, LLC, and Shamrock Rodeo, LLC.
Gold Buckle sponsors included Columbia County Health Systems, PFI Food Mart; Silver Buckle-Dayton Mercantile and Dayton Chronicle. Bucking Chute sponsors were Avren Childers-State Farm, Banner Bank, CDJR of Walla Walla, Don Johnson Trailer Sales, Papé Machinery, Van Ausdle Tires and Wildhorse Resort & Casino.