Lost Dutchman Days, Apache Junction, AZ

Lost Dutchman Days is held in Apache Junction every year. It celebrates the cowboy heritage of the area with a rodeo. This year the start of the celebration began at the Apache Junction Elks Lodge with a Bratfest. The theme for this year's Lost Dutchman Days was "Are you tough enough to wear pink?" 

I bought a shirt and Max, it turned out, was tough enough to wear pink!

The rodeo grounds and arena are where the real festivities reside. There are two stages and they have different bands or entertainment every few hours.

And of course there is the carnival. You just couldn't find a more spectacular setting than the Superstition Mountains.

But the real entertainment was the daily rodeo.

It started with a wonderful salute to our flag and our great country!

As you can see, even the horses were celebrating in pink!

And the cowboys too! Pink shirts and pink chaps.

We saw bareback bronc riding.

And you can't have a rodeo without a clown, also in pink.

Calf roping.

Clown entertainment.

Saddle bronc riding.

Steer wrestling.

But my favorite was the Budweiser Clydesdales. Although I have seen them many times before, I have never seen them perform. They came in the arena pulling a 7000 lb or 7 ton (I forget) wagon, reminiscent of the days of pulling a beer wagon. After showing off the agility and capability of these wonderful horses, they had the team park the wagon as if they were backing up to a loading dock. Very impressive.

And bull riding. I have been to many rodeos and did not think the bulls here were all that tough. Even though this guy did not stay on, most did complete the 8 second ride.

My video of the Clydesdales.