The hooting, hollering and hoofbeats could only mean the Sisters Rodeo is back in town, and on Saturday, the rodeo arena southeast of this small town was packed for the Central Oregon cowboy spectacle.

The popular event attracted people curious to get a slice of traditional western culture for their first time and people who have been coming to the event for over 30 years.

Chris Barnes drove to Sisters from Portland for his first rodeo and said he didn’t exactly know what to expect. As he headed for one of the food stalls prior to the show, he was already having a good time.

“I have no expectations to be completely honest. I came thinking it was going to be more of a country fair where there’s going to be carnival rides and we can go look at animals and stuff, and I’m like, ‘oh, we’re at a rodeo,’” Barnes said. “I’m looking forward to watching them sing the national anthem. I love that part.”

Barnes wore designer shades and a fabulous fringed jean jacket with glitter and rhinestones that spelled out “Shania” on the back, and said he got the jacket at a Shania Twain concert in Spokane, Wash. in April.

“I drove all the way there to see my girl,” Barnes said of the concert. “I was like, ‘you know what, I’m going to wear this jacket to the rodeo.’”

Sarah Kintz, of Stayton, accompanied Barnes on Saturday, and while this was certainly not her first rodeo, it was her first time at the Sisters event. Kintz said she was looking forward to the show but there was one thing she was not looking forward to.

“The clown always freaks me out,” Kintz said.

Over on the other side of the arena, Rodney and Tracy Poynor of Sisters, donned cowboy hats to block out the High Desert sun, and nursed ice cold beverages while waiting for the show to start.

The couple started coming to the Sisters Rodeo in the 1980s, prior to getting married, and they have been coming ever since.

When asked if he’d ever participated in the rodeo, Rodney Poynor, a retired stonemason with a long white beard, said no.

“I’m smarter than that,” he said with a grin. “I’ve had a lot of friends that were (in the rodeo), though.”

Rodney said over the years he has helped out with the event in a number of capacities, from working security, to serving food and selling chits — the poker chip-like tokens rodeo guests can purchase to exchange for alcoholic beverages. Rodney Poynor said he even worked on some of the stonemasonry in the clubhouse on the property.

Tracy Poynor described her and her husband as “tried and true” rodeo fans and described rodeo culture as hardworking and generous.

“Friends you haven’t met yet,” she said, describing the folks that make the Sisters Rodeo possible.

Miemke and Alex Behage and their two-year-old daughter Jorien — who slept in a baby carrier fastened to her father’s back — possibly won the award for the most miles traveled to get a taste of authentic Oregon rodeo culture. They came from the Netherlands.

“We read about it. We just thought it was really cool. So we booked a campsite and got ourselves some tickets,” Miemke Behage said.

“We knew it had to do with horses, but we were really curious as to what it’s going to be.”

Behage said rodeos are nonexistent in the Netherlands and the couple really had no frame of reference whatsoever. For the Behages, the Sisters Rodeo was something of an exotic destination.

Saturday was the Behages first day at the rodeo, and they said they still have two weeks left on their road trip around Oregon. Miemke Behage said she had a feeling the rodeo was going to be fun.

“We are looking for fun and I think we are going to get that,” she said, as music played, and excited beer-clutching, cowboy hat clad rodeo goers walked past.

As the rodeo show got going, people started spilling into the stands, shuttling elephant ears on top of sweating beers. Soon after, the national anthem was sung, and people hooted and hollered as the U.S. flag billowed and the high notes were sung.

The Sisters Rodeo brings in competitors from across the country, and this year’s

rodeo saw a record of over 650 contestants competing for the largest purse in the rodeo history priced at $15,000 — the highest-paying purse in the nation this weekend.

Jackson Tucker, a 21-year-old team roper from Statesville, North Carolina, competed in the rodeo for his second time.

“I love the scenery of Oregon,” Tucker said. “This rodeo has been around for a long time. This is a cool rodeo.”

Of course, the chance at winning money is also a driving force behind why the Sisters Rodeo is such a draw.

Paige Portenier, a 24-year-old from Caldwell, Idaho is hoping her second year competing in the Sisters Rodeo can add some money to her career earnings in the breakaway roping event.

“It is a really good circuit rodeo to go to, it is really well run and the crowd is phenomenal,” Portenier said. “Hopefully I can walk away with some money. That is why I’m here.”