Crookston City Council met Monday, February 3, and during Council Reports, Council Member Morgan Hibma mentioned that the Crookston EDA Board had recently started plans to hold a Rodeo in Crookston in early September 2025. On Tuesday, we met with Karie Kirschbaum, Community Development Director, to learn more about the event. “I only know a little bit; like I told you, we are just starting to kick it off,” says Kirschbaum. “The EDA Board approved for us to manage and get the event going.” Kirschbaum wanted to mention that as excited as they are about the event, it is still just in the planning stages and at about 80% go while the EDA does its due diligence.
Kirschbaum says the EDA has been working closely with Jake Solberg and Scott Butt at the Parks & Rec Department and Keenan Devier, who does marketing for the city, to try and get more events going at the Crookston Sports Center.
After meeting with Wojo’s Rodeo, owned by Keith and Dana Wojo, it was decided that the Crookston EDA would host Wojo’s Rodeo at the Crookston Sports Center. “We will be hosting it outside on the weekend of September 5th and 6th, 2025,” says Kirschbaum. “It’s the weekend after Labor Day at the Crookston Sports Center, and on the inside, we will be doing a Cowboy Vendor Show.”
Kirschbaum says the rodeo will be outside, along with the beer garden, food trucks, and similar events. Wojo’s Rodeo brings all kinds of fun events for adults and children, Kirschbaum says. “Some of the rodeos we are going to see are the Saddle Bronc Riding, Team Roping, Breakaway, Goat Tying, , Jr. Barrels, Jr. Bull Riding, which is crazy right,” says Kirschbaum. “Your typical events, but Wojo’s Rodeo really focuses a lot on family and younger people and getting them into the events, so I really appreciate them, I’ve been familiar with them over the last decade, and they really have grown to be a regional circuit rodeo and benefit communities and are a lot of fun.”
In planning for the rodeo Kirschbaum says they chose the weekend of September 5th and 6th because of the other events in Crookston that weekend. “It’s the same weekend as the King of Trails City-Wide Garage Sales, and the Pioneer Day Celebration at the Polk County Historical Society and then the Harvest Fest over at the Sugarbeet Museum,” says Kirschbaum. “So, we thought, ok, those are things that happen all day long, and then people leave Crookston. What can we do to keep people in town for the evening.” The plan to the have the rodeo on the same weekend as these other events is to utilize all that Crookston has to offer. “We thought, let’s do a rodeo, and that will fill up our hotels, and give our restaurants and bars and hotels opportunities to get their own bands and their own entertainment, and maybe get some more stores open for the weekend downtown,” says Kirschbaum. “I’m hoping that the more people we draw, the more we can get them out to the stores, the rodeos, the garage sales, and really just to make it another fun weekend in Crookston.”
Ox Cart Days will be celebrated just a few weeks before the rodeo, which is being called the Ox Cart Stampede. “We are calling it the Ox Cart Stampede,” says Kirschbaum. “As we were talking to people and saying, what do you think about Crookston, like, when you think about Crookston, what do you think and they were like, we always think about Ox Cart Days, or we think about the big ox cart when we were growing up was outside the Red River Valley Winter Shows.”
Since Ox Cart Days kept popping up in conversation when thinking about Crookston and what people remember about and think about having to do with Crookston, the Ox Cart Stampede seemed to fit. Kirschbaum said that even though it was not happening during the Ox Cart Days events, they asked the Ox Cart Days Committee if they were ok with calling the rodeo the Ox Cart Stampede. The committee did not have an issue.
Bringing this event to town will require a lot of work, and Kirschbaum says they will now be putting together committees and finding sponsors, vendors, and volunteers to help. Stay tuned for more on the Ox Cart Stampede coming in September 2025.
