What were you doing 50 years ago?
I was in graduate school, studying journalism at the University of Oregon. I hadn’t yet started my professional career. My first job — as a reporter at the Eugene Register-Guard — was still a year off. I could no more foresee what the next five decades would bring than I could pull off wearing the mod clothing of the era.
As it turns out, I had a lot of good experiences that eventually brought me to this dream job in the Methow Valley where, in 2022, it seems 50 is a particularly auspicious number.
Why does 50 resonate? It’s half a century, and we love celebrating centennial events, so why not acknowledge the halfway mark? It’s within the lifetimes of a lot of people, who can reflect on all that’s transpired in those years. And human beings seem to regard 50 as a psychological midlife marker, although most of us are beyond the midpoint by then.
This weekend is a good time for such reflection. Fifty years ago, a bunch of local guys called the Methow Valley Horsemen started the Methow Valley rodeo. A couple of them — Claude Miller and Tom Graves — are still around. The others — Bill Flagg, Vernon Bame, Don Dagnon, Al Gardner and Sandy Haase — are no longer with us. Their spirit carries on every time a ranch stock rider settles in the saddle.
The Sunny M Ranch was the rodeo’s location for the first 10 years. Then the rodeo moved to its current location off Twin Lakes Road. The founders probably had no idea the event (twice a year, on Memorial and Labor Day weekends) might endure as a local institution. COVID and fire-related conditions forced some cancelations the past few years, but the broncs, bulls, barrel riders and mutton busters will all be there this weekend. In this week’s paper, you’ll find more information about the rodeo’s history, the 2022 rodeo queen, and how to attend.
Two other noteworthy 50th anniversaries are on the near horizon: the opening, at long last, of the North Cascades Scenic Highway in 1972, and the launch of Westernization in downtown Winthrop that same year.
Interestingly, you can still find some folks — some of whom were already firmly established in the Methow before 1972 — who still think both of those accomplishments were bad ideas because they opened up the valley to the waves of tourists who now mean so much to our local economy.
But there’s no turning back the clock, so let’s accept that the highway is not only an engineering feat and scenic marvel, but also a vital connector to the west side. It provides access to some of the best backcountry experiences in the country. And it gives us another way out of the valley when we are threatened by fires and smoke.
As for Westernization, honestly, where would Winthrop be without it? Have you seen photos of what the town looked like before it was revamped in a Western motif? The boardwalks and storefronts make Winthrop a happy destination point — rather than a quick drive-through — for thousands of people every year. And it doesn’t hurt to remember our pioneer roots.
As with the rodeo — which has persevered under the Methow Valley Horsemen through untold hours of volunteer efforts — lots of people are devoted to keeping Westernization alive and authentic. That can be a struggle when the ideas of the modern era clash with the notions of the 1890s. But the effort continues to be worth it.
So if people are taking the North Cascades Highway on the way to stopping for a bit of shopping in Winthrop before they take in the rodeo over Memorial Day weekend, that sounds like a perfect trifecta of 50s.
