For many people, the Kitsap County Fair is all about the stampede and rodeo.

This year’s stampede and rodeo will be Joe Drouin’s 30th. Drouin is the rodeo director and has been helping stage the rodeo at the fair for 30 years.

“It’s something I really enjoy doing,” Drouin said. “It’s just a lot of fun.”

On rodeo nights, there’s seven events (see below) with about 100 cowboys and cowgirls performing each night. Barrel racing is the only event in which women perform during the rodeos.

They are all part of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and Drouin said they have six different rodeos to choose from on the weekend of the Kitsap Fair and Rodeo.

“We are the favorite — very much so,” he said. “We get all the top names.”

The cowboys sleep over during the fair in campers and trailers on the rodeo grounds. Making sure they have what they need is part of what Drouin and his team do.

“We work year-round to make this the best rodeo we can,” he said. “And beginning the first weekend in August, we’re out there about four days a week preparing the grounds and setting up for the rodeo.”

During the fair, someone from the rodeo management team is on site 24 hours a day.

For newcomers to the Stampede, Drouin said if horses are your thing, attend a rodeo night. If bulls are what you like, be sure to attend Wednesday and see some extreme bull riding.

Here’s a guide to what’s at the rodeo:

— Bareback Riding. Each competitor climbs onto a horse, which is held in a small pipe or wooden enclosure called a bucking chute. When the rider is ready, the gate of the bucking chute is opened and the horse bursts out and begins to buck. The rider attempts to stay on the horse for eight seconds without touching the horse with his free hand.

On the first jump out of the chute, the rider must “mark the horse out.” This means he must have the heels of his boots in contact with the horse above the point of the shoulders before the horse’s front legs hit the ground. A rider that manages to complete a ride is scored on a scale of 0-50 and the horse is also scored on a scale of 0-50. Scores in the 80s are very good, and in the 90s, are exceptional.

A horse who bucks in a spectacular and effective manner will score more points than a horse who bucks in a straight line with no significant changes of direction.

— Steer Wrestling. Also known as bull dogging. Rules of steer wrestling include: The bulldogger’s horse must not break the rope barrier in front of it at the beginning of a run, but must wait for the animal escaping from the adjacent chute to release the rope. Breaking the rope barrier early adds a 10-second penalty to the bulldogger’s time.

If the steer stumbles or falls before the bulldogger brings it down, he must either wait for it to rise or help it up before wrestling it to the ground. If the bulldogger completely misses the steer on his way down, he will receive a “no time.”

Typical professional times will be in the range of 3.0 to 10 seconds from the gates opening to the waving of the flag. The steers used today are generally Corriente cattle or longhorns, which weigh between 450–650 pounds, and the human steer wrestlers typically weigh 180–300 pounds.

— Team Roping. Team roping, also known as heading and heeling, is a rodeo event that features a steer and two mounted riders. The first roper is referred to as the “header”, the person who ropes the front of the steer, usually around the horns, but it is also legal for the rope to go around the neck, or go around one horn and the nose resulting in what they call a “half head”. Once the steer is caught by one of the three legal head catches, the header must dally (wrap the rope around the rubber covered saddle horn) and use his horse to turn the steer to the left. The second is the “heeler”, who ropes the steer by its hind feet after the “header” has turned the steer, with a five second penalty assessed to the end time if only one leg is caught. Team roping is the only rodeo event where men and women compete equally together in professionally sanctioned competition, in both single-gender or mixed-gender teams.

— Saddle Bronc Riding. Bronc riding, either bareback bronc or saddle bronc, is a rodeo event that involves a rodeo participant riding on a horse (sometimes called a bronc or bronco), that attempts to throw or buck off the rider. Originally based on the necessary horse-breaking skills of a working cowboy, the event is now a highly stylized competition that utilizes horses that often are specially bred for strength, agility and bucking ability.

— Tie-Down Roping. Also known as calf roping. Calf roping is a rodeo event that features a calf and a rider mounted on a horse. The goal of this timed event is for the rider to catch the calf by throwing a loop of rope from a lariat around its neck, dismount from the horse, run to the calf, and restrain it by tying three legs together, in as short a time as possible.

— Barrel Racing. Barrel racing is a rodeo event in which a horse and rider attempt to complete a cloverleaf pattern around preset barrels in the fastest time. Though both boys and girls compete at the youth level and men compete in some amateur venues and jackpots, in collegiate and professional ranks, it is primarily a rodeo event for women. It combines the horse’s athletic ability and the horsemanship skills of a rider in order to safely and successfully maneuver a horse in a pattern around three barrels (typically three 55- gallon metal or plastic drums) placed in a triangle in the center of an arena.

— Bull Riding. Bull riding refers to rodeo sports that involve a rider getting on a large bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal attempts to buck off the rider.

In the American tradition, the rider must stay atop the bucking bull for eight seconds. The rider tightly fastens one hand to the bull with a long braided rope. It is a risky sport and has been called the most dangerous eight seconds in sports.