For the first time in two decades, the Denver-founded won’t be part of the , which kicked off Jan. 10 and runs through Jan. 25.
Started by Denverite Lu Vason in 1984, the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo (BPIR) celebrates Black cowboys and cowgirls, and honors their contributions to building the American West. In 2006, Vason collaborated with the National Western Stock Show to organize the first MLK Jr. African-American Heritage Rodeo of Champions, and it has hosted the event every year since.
This year, however, National Western organizers couldn’t accommodate the number of contestants that the rodeo was expected to bring in, said Wes Allison, president and CEO of the Western Stock Show Association.
In years past, the MLK Jr. African-American Heritage Rodeo was an open rodeo, meaning as many of BPIR’s members could enter as wanted to. Because there were usually more competitors than slots in the final show, cowboys and cowgirls competed in qualifying rounds to determine the top seven finalists in each event, such as steer wrestling and ladies’ barrel racing. The additional qualifying rounds are whatap known as “slack.”
But the inability to predict exactly how many people would be part of the open rodeo made it logistically infeasible for the jam-packed stock show schedule, Allison said, especially since the Bill Pickett has grown significantly over the years. He called it “a very amicable parting of the ways.”
“Honestly, (we’re) proud that we could help build Bill Pickett to a place where they ultimately outgrew the National Western and thatap wonderful for them,” he said.
Allison added that he never considered eliminating the MLK Jr. African-American Heritage Rodeo from the lineup. The stock show has instead partnered with a different organization, out of Phoenix, to produce the Jan. 19 event, which features bronc riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, mutton bustin’, ladies’ “steer un-decorating,” and more.
Bill Pickett rodeo owner and president Valeria Howard-Cunningham said she had to do what was best for the organization, which has grown from fewer than 100 members in 2006 to 400 or so today.
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“It didn’t make sense for my organization to participate because what [NWSS] wanted is only seven cowboys and cowgirls (per event) to come to Denver,” she said. “Itap very expensive. The last two years, the weather has been brutal in January -- the snow and the bad roads. We’ve had cowboys and cowgirls damage their trucks, and almost damage their trailers with the horses.”
Since the National Western occurs in January, at the beginning of BPIR's rodeo season, having slack rounds there was important because they allowed every competitor to get a qualifying time. For the winners, that ultimately helped them earn a spot in the association's National Finals in the fall, Howard-Cunningham said. With just seven spots, however, this year's competition would be considered an "invitational" rodeo rather than a qualifier, so the results wouldn't have counted toward contestants' overall standings.
Without the opportunity for slack, “I decided it wasn’t beneficial for cowboys and cowgirls, and it wasn’t beneficial for my organization,” Howard-Cunningham said.
Without the 2026 stock show, the Bill Pickett rodeo will not have a local event in its home state for perhaps the first time in its history. It is instead hosting competitions in Memphis, Atlanta, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Fort Worth, Texas, before the championship National Finals near Washington, D.C. in September.
But Howard-Cunningham is not ruling out a return in the future. “I don’t close the doors on any opportunities,” she said. “It all boils down to whatap best for the cowboys and cowgirls. They are the stars, and you just have to do whatap best for them.”
