Do you know where Grover, Colo., is? You should, but if you don’t, you are not alone. As small towns in Colorado go, Grover would be considered ‘very small.’ It was incorporated in Weld County in 1916 and had a population of 195 in the 1920 Census. Although population levels have fluctuated over the years, they are pretty much the same as when Grover was incorporated.

There is a web site that lists Grover, Colo., as a ghost town. I am sure that would come as a surprise to all of the hard working residents that put on the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo every year. In fact, residents of Grover have been putting on the “Best Little Rodeo in the West” for the past 88 years.

The Grover rodeo is a PRCA sanctioned rodeo and always attracts some of the top cowboys in the Mountain States Circuit. Josh Peek, Troy Tillard, Royce Ford and Micky Downare, were all in Grover on Father’s Day weekend. The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo is always held on Father’s Day weekend and generations have grown up attending the rodeo with their father. I spoke to an 11-year-old girl who proudly told me that she had been coming to the Grover rodeo “all of her life.”

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The Grover rodeo is rodeo the way it used to be. There are no neatly painted parking spaces – just find an empty spot in the field and that is your parking spot. Campers and horse trailers are encouraged, and the same rules apply – if it’s empty, it’s yours. The rodeo starts at 1:30 p.m., and if you get there very, very early you might get one of the choice parking spots right next to the fence – just back your pickup in, get your lawn chairs and cooler and enjoy the rodeo.

And concessions are not going to break you either. Where else can you get a hot dog and a bottle of water for three bucks? The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo has all the amenities that make small town rodeos so appealing. On Saturday there is a parade in the morning and a free rodeo dance at night. On Sunday there is rodeo breakfast at the fire station and Cowboy Church before the rodeo. And there is one more thing that really sets this rodeo apart from the mega-sized rodeos and that is the friendly people.

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Part of what makes Grover special is that there is no air-conditioning and no covered arena. This is rodeo like it used to be – hot, dirty, windy, dusty, and occasionally, raining. There has not been rain at a performance of the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo for the last eight years. What rain there has been has held off until late in the afternoon when the performance was over. All that changed this Father’s Day. Everything started off like normal, then during the Bareback riding a storm blew in and it began to rain. And it really rained hard with a lot of pea sized hail. Out came the slickers and all the fans headed for their cars or the only cover there was, which was attached to the concession stand. The local 4-H Club did a years worth of sales in about 20 minutes!

The storms came and went all afternoon. Grover cowboys are tough and the rodeo never stopped except for about 15 minutes when there was so much rain and hail that the judges could not see the contestants. Grover fans are tough too – they would seek shelter during the hard rains and come back out when it slacked off. Few people left and everyone still had fun. The rain just added to the legend and added more stories for the next generation of fathers to tell their kids about how Grover “used to be.” So next Father’s Day, gather up the kids and head out to Grover and the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo and begin your own tradition.

Grover may be off the beaten path a bit, but it is not hard to find. Just head east on Hwy 14 and turn left at Briggsdale. Follow that road to County Road 120. Turn right and follow the paved road until it ends, and there is Grover. Just follow the crowds that are heading to the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo, the “Biggest Little Rodeo in the West.”

Do you know where Grover, Colo., is? You should, but if you don’t, you are not alone. As small towns in Colorado go, Grover would be considered ‘very small.’ It was incorporated in Weld County in 1916 and had a population of 195 in the 1920 Census. Although population levels have fluctuated over the years, they are pretty much the same as when Grover was incorporated.

There is a web site that lists Grover, Colo., as a ghost town. I am sure that would come as a surprise to all of the hard working residents that put on the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo every year. In fact, residents of Grover have been putting on the “Best Little Rodeo in the West” for the past 88 years.

The Grover rodeo is a PRCA sanctioned rodeo and always attracts some of the top cowboys in the Mountain States Circuit. Josh Peek, Troy Tillard, Royce Ford and Micky Downare, were all in Grover on Father’s Day weekend. The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo is always held on Father’s Day weekend and generations have grown up attending the rodeo with their father. I spoke to an 11-year-old girl who proudly told me that she had been coming to the Grover rodeo “all of her life.”

The Grover rodeo is rodeo the way it used to be. There are no neatly painted parking spaces – just find an empty spot in the field and that is your parking spot. Campers and horse trailers are encouraged, and the same rules apply – if it’s empty, it’s yours. The rodeo starts at 1:30 p.m., and if you get there very, very early you might get one of the choice parking spots right next to the fence – just back your pickup in, get your lawn chairs and cooler and enjoy the rodeo.

And concessions are not going to break you either. Where else can you get a hot dog and a bottle of water for three bucks? The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo has all the amenities that make small town rodeos so appealing. On Saturday there is a parade in the morning and a free rodeo dance at night. On Sunday there is rodeo breakfast at the fire station and Cowboy Church before the rodeo. And there is one more thing that really sets this rodeo apart from the mega-sized rodeos and that is the friendly people.

Part of what makes Grover special is that there is no air-conditioning and no covered arena. This is rodeo like it used to be – hot, dirty, windy, dusty, and occasionally, raining. There has not been rain at a performance of the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo for the last eight years. What rain there has been has held off until late in the afternoon when the performance was over. All that changed this Father’s Day. Everything started off like normal, then during the Bareback riding a storm blew in and it began to rain. And it really rained hard with a lot of pea sized hail. Out came the slickers and all the fans headed for their cars or the only cover there was, which was attached to the concession stand. The local 4-H Club did a years worth of sales in about 20 minutes!

The storms came and went all afternoon. Grover cowboys are tough and the rodeo never stopped except for about 15 minutes when there was so much rain and hail that the judges could not see the contestants. Grover fans are tough too – they would seek shelter during the hard rains and come back out when it slacked off. Few people left and everyone still had fun. The rain just added to the legend and added more stories for the next generation of fathers to tell their kids about how Grover “used to be.” So next Father’s Day, gather up the kids and head out to Grover and the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo and begin your own tradition.

Grover may be off the beaten path a bit, but it is not hard to find. Just head east on Hwy 14 and turn left at Briggsdale. Follow that road to County Road 120. Turn right and follow the paved road until it ends, and there is Grover. Just follow the crowds that are heading to the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo, the “Biggest Little Rodeo in the West.”

Do you know where Grover, Colo., is? You should, but if you don’t, you are not alone. As small towns in Colorado go, Grover would be considered ‘very small.’ It was incorporated in Weld County in 1916 and had a population of 195 in the 1920 Census. Although population levels have fluctuated over the years, they are pretty much the same as when Grover was incorporated.

There is a web site that lists Grover, Colo., as a ghost town. I am sure that would come as a surprise to all of the hard working residents that put on the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo every year. In fact, residents of Grover have been putting on the “Best Little Rodeo in the West” for the past 88 years.

The Grover rodeo is a PRCA sanctioned rodeo and always attracts some of the top cowboys in the Mountain States Circuit. Josh Peek, Troy Tillard, Royce Ford and Micky Downare, were all in Grover on Father’s Day weekend. The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo is always held on Father’s Day weekend and generations have grown up attending the rodeo with their father. I spoke to an 11-year-old girl who proudly told me that she had been coming to the Grover rodeo “all of her life.”

The Grover rodeo is rodeo the way it used to be. There are no neatly painted parking spaces – just find an empty spot in the field and that is your parking spot. Campers and horse trailers are encouraged, and the same rules apply – if it’s empty, it’s yours. The rodeo starts at 1:30 p.m., and if you get there very, very early you might get one of the choice parking spots right next to the fence – just back your pickup in, get your lawn chairs and cooler and enjoy the rodeo.

And concessions are not going to break you either. Where else can you get a hot dog and a bottle of water for three bucks? The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo has all the amenities that make small town rodeos so appealing. On Saturday there is a parade in the morning and a free rodeo dance at night. On Sunday there is rodeo breakfast at the fire station and Cowboy Church before the rodeo. And there is one more thing that really sets this rodeo apart from the mega-sized rodeos and that is the friendly people.

Part of what makes Grover special is that there is no air-conditioning and no covered arena. This is rodeo like it used to be – hot, dirty, windy, dusty, and occasionally, raining. There has not been rain at a performance of the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo for the last eight years. What rain there has been has held off until late in the afternoon when the performance was over. All that changed this Father’s Day. Everything started off like normal, then during the Bareback riding a storm blew in and it began to rain. And it really rained hard with a lot of pea sized hail. Out came the slickers and all the fans headed for their cars or the only cover there was, which was attached to the concession stand. The local 4-H Club did a years worth of sales in about 20 minutes!

The storms came and went all afternoon. Grover cowboys are tough and the rodeo never stopped except for about 15 minutes when there was so much rain and hail that the judges could not see the contestants. Grover fans are tough too – they would seek shelter during the hard rains and come back out when it slacked off. Few people left and everyone still had fun. The rain just added to the legend and added more stories for the next generation of fathers to tell their kids about how Grover “used to be.” So next Father’s Day, gather up the kids and head out to Grover and the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo and begin your own tradition.

Grover may be off the beaten path a bit, but it is not hard to find. Just head east on Hwy 14 and turn left at Briggsdale. Follow that road to County Road 120. Turn right and follow the paved road until it ends, and there is Grover. Just follow the crowds that are heading to the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo, the “Biggest Little Rodeo in the West.”

Do you know where Grover, Colo., is? You should, but if you don’t, you are not alone. As small towns in Colorado go, Grover would be considered ‘very small.’ It was incorporated in Weld County in 1916 and had a population of 195 in the 1920 Census. Although population levels have fluctuated over the years, they are pretty much the same as when Grover was incorporated.

There is a web site that lists Grover, Colo., as a ghost town. I am sure that would come as a surprise to all of the hard working residents that put on the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo every year. In fact, residents of Grover have been putting on the “Best Little Rodeo in the West” for the past 88 years.

The Grover rodeo is a PRCA sanctioned rodeo and always attracts some of the top cowboys in the Mountain States Circuit. Josh Peek, Troy Tillard, Royce Ford and Micky Downare, were all in Grover on Father’s Day weekend. The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo is always held on Father’s Day weekend and generations have grown up attending the rodeo with their father. I spoke to an 11-year-old girl who proudly told me that she had been coming to the Grover rodeo “all of her life.”

The Grover rodeo is rodeo the way it used to be. There are no neatly painted parking spaces – just find an empty spot in the field and that is your parking spot. Campers and horse trailers are encouraged, and the same rules apply – if it’s empty, it’s yours. The rodeo starts at 1:30 p.m., and if you get there very, very early you might get one of the choice parking spots right next to the fence – just back your pickup in, get your lawn chairs and cooler and enjoy the rodeo.

And concessions are not going to break you either. Where else can you get a hot dog and a bottle of water for three bucks? The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo has all the amenities that make small town rodeos so appealing. On Saturday there is a parade in the morning and a free rodeo dance at night. On Sunday there is rodeo breakfast at the fire station and Cowboy Church before the rodeo. And there is one more thing that really sets this rodeo apart from the mega-sized rodeos and that is the friendly people.

Part of what makes Grover special is that there is no air-conditioning and no covered arena. This is rodeo like it used to be – hot, dirty, windy, dusty, and occasionally, raining. There has not been rain at a performance of the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo for the last eight years. What rain there has been has held off until late in the afternoon when the performance was over. All that changed this Father’s Day. Everything started off like normal, then during the Bareback riding a storm blew in and it began to rain. And it really rained hard with a lot of pea sized hail. Out came the slickers and all the fans headed for their cars or the only cover there was, which was attached to the concession stand. The local 4-H Club did a years worth of sales in about 20 minutes!

The storms came and went all afternoon. Grover cowboys are tough and the rodeo never stopped except for about 15 minutes when there was so much rain and hail that the judges could not see the contestants. Grover fans are tough too – they would seek shelter during the hard rains and come back out when it slacked off. Few people left and everyone still had fun. The rain just added to the legend and added more stories for the next generation of fathers to tell their kids about how Grover “used to be.” So next Father’s Day, gather up the kids and head out to Grover and the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo and begin your own tradition.

Grover may be off the beaten path a bit, but it is not hard to find. Just head east on Hwy 14 and turn left at Briggsdale. Follow that road to County Road 120. Turn right and follow the paved road until it ends, and there is Grover. Just follow the crowds that are heading to the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo, the “Biggest Little Rodeo in the West.”

Do you know where Grover, Colo., is? You should, but if you don’t, you are not alone. As small towns in Colorado go, Grover would be considered ‘very small.’ It was incorporated in Weld County in 1916 and had a population of 195 in the 1920 Census. Although population levels have fluctuated over the years, they are pretty much the same as when Grover was incorporated.

There is a web site that lists Grover, Colo., as a ghost town. I am sure that would come as a surprise to all of the hard working residents that put on the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo every year. In fact, residents of Grover have been putting on the “Best Little Rodeo in the West” for the past 88 years.

The Grover rodeo is a PRCA sanctioned rodeo and always attracts some of the top cowboys in the Mountain States Circuit. Josh Peek, Troy Tillard, Royce Ford and Micky Downare, were all in Grover on Father’s Day weekend. The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo is always held on Father’s Day weekend and generations have grown up attending the rodeo with their father. I spoke to an 11-year-old girl who proudly told me that she had been coming to the Grover rodeo “all of her life.”

The Grover rodeo is rodeo the way it used to be. There are no neatly painted parking spaces – just find an empty spot in the field and that is your parking spot. Campers and horse trailers are encouraged, and the same rules apply – if it’s empty, it’s yours. The rodeo starts at 1:30 p.m., and if you get there very, very early you might get one of the choice parking spots right next to the fence – just back your pickup in, get your lawn chairs and cooler and enjoy the rodeo.

And concessions are not going to break you either. Where else can you get a hot dog and a bottle of water for three bucks? The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo has all the amenities that make small town rodeos so appealing. On Saturday there is a parade in the morning and a free rodeo dance at night. On Sunday there is rodeo breakfast at the fire station and Cowboy Church before the rodeo. And there is one more thing that really sets this rodeo apart from the mega-sized rodeos and that is the friendly people.

Part of what makes Grover special is that there is no air-conditioning and no covered arena. This is rodeo like it used to be – hot, dirty, windy, dusty, and occasionally, raining. There has not been rain at a performance of the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo for the last eight years. What rain there has been has held off until late in the afternoon when the performance was over. All that changed this Father’s Day. Everything started off like normal, then during the Bareback riding a storm blew in and it began to rain. And it really rained hard with a lot of pea sized hail. Out came the slickers and all the fans headed for their cars or the only cover there was, which was attached to the concession stand. The local 4-H Club did a years worth of sales in about 20 minutes!

The storms came and went all afternoon. Grover cowboys are tough and the rodeo never stopped except for about 15 minutes when there was so much rain and hail that the judges could not see the contestants. Grover fans are tough too – they would seek shelter during the hard rains and come back out when it slacked off. Few people left and everyone still had fun. The rain just added to the legend and added more stories for the next generation of fathers to tell their kids about how Grover “used to be.” So next Father’s Day, gather up the kids and head out to Grover and the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo and begin your own tradition.

Grover may be off the beaten path a bit, but it is not hard to find. Just head east on Hwy 14 and turn left at Briggsdale. Follow that road to County Road 120. Turn right and follow the paved road until it ends, and there is Grover. Just follow the crowds that are heading to the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo, the “Biggest Little Rodeo in the West.”

Do you know where Grover, Colo., is? You should, but if you don’t, you are not alone. As small towns in Colorado go, Grover would be considered ‘very small.’ It was incorporated in Weld County in 1916 and had a population of 195 in the 1920 Census. Although population levels have fluctuated over the years, they are pretty much the same as when Grover was incorporated.

There is a web site that lists Grover, Colo., as a ghost town. I am sure that would come as a surprise to all of the hard working residents that put on the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo every year. In fact, residents of Grover have been putting on the “Best Little Rodeo in the West” for the past 88 years.

The Grover rodeo is a PRCA sanctioned rodeo and always attracts some of the top cowboys in the Mountain States Circuit. Josh Peek, Troy Tillard, Royce Ford and Micky Downare, were all in Grover on Father’s Day weekend. The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo is always held on Father’s Day weekend and generations have grown up attending the rodeo with their father. I spoke to an 11-year-old girl who proudly told me that she had been coming to the Grover rodeo “all of her life.”

The Grover rodeo is rodeo the way it used to be. There are no neatly painted parking spaces – just find an empty spot in the field and that is your parking spot. Campers and horse trailers are encouraged, and the same rules apply – if it’s empty, it’s yours. The rodeo starts at 1:30 p.m., and if you get there very, very early you might get one of the choice parking spots right next to the fence – just back your pickup in, get your lawn chairs and cooler and enjoy the rodeo.

And concessions are not going to break you either. Where else can you get a hot dog and a bottle of water for three bucks? The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo has all the amenities that make small town rodeos so appealing. On Saturday there is a parade in the morning and a free rodeo dance at night. On Sunday there is rodeo breakfast at the fire station and Cowboy Church before the rodeo. And there is one more thing that really sets this rodeo apart from the mega-sized rodeos and that is the friendly people.

Part of what makes Grover special is that there is no air-conditioning and no covered arena. This is rodeo like it used to be – hot, dirty, windy, dusty, and occasionally, raining. There has not been rain at a performance of the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo for the last eight years. What rain there has been has held off until late in the afternoon when the performance was over. All that changed this Father’s Day. Everything started off like normal, then during the Bareback riding a storm blew in and it began to rain. And it really rained hard with a lot of pea sized hail. Out came the slickers and all the fans headed for their cars or the only cover there was, which was attached to the concession stand. The local 4-H Club did a years worth of sales in about 20 minutes!

The storms came and went all afternoon. Grover cowboys are tough and the rodeo never stopped except for about 15 minutes when there was so much rain and hail that the judges could not see the contestants. Grover fans are tough too – they would seek shelter during the hard rains and come back out when it slacked off. Few people left and everyone still had fun. The rain just added to the legend and added more stories for the next generation of fathers to tell their kids about how Grover “used to be.” So next Father’s Day, gather up the kids and head out to Grover and the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo and begin your own tradition.

Grover may be off the beaten path a bit, but it is not hard to find. Just head east on Hwy 14 and turn left at Briggsdale. Follow that road to County Road 120. Turn right and follow the paved road until it ends, and there is Grover. Just follow the crowds that are heading to the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo, the “Biggest Little Rodeo in the West.”

Do you know where Grover, Colo., is? You should, but if you don’t, you are not alone. As small towns in Colorado go, Grover would be considered ‘very small.’ It was incorporated in Weld County in 1916 and had a population of 195 in the 1920 Census. Although population levels have fluctuated over the years, they are pretty much the same as when Grover was incorporated.

There is a web site that lists Grover, Colo., as a ghost town. I am sure that would come as a surprise to all of the hard working residents that put on the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo every year. In fact, residents of Grover have been putting on the “Best Little Rodeo in the West” for the past 88 years.

The Grover rodeo is a PRCA sanctioned rodeo and always attracts some of the top cowboys in the Mountain States Circuit. Josh Peek, Troy Tillard, Royce Ford and Micky Downare, were all in Grover on Father’s Day weekend. The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo is always held on Father’s Day weekend and generations have grown up attending the rodeo with their father. I spoke to an 11-year-old girl who proudly told me that she had been coming to the Grover rodeo “all of her life.”

The Grover rodeo is rodeo the way it used to be. There are no neatly painted parking spaces – just find an empty spot in the field and that is your parking spot. Campers and horse trailers are encouraged, and the same rules apply – if it’s empty, it’s yours. The rodeo starts at 1:30 p.m., and if you get there very, very early you might get one of the choice parking spots right next to the fence – just back your pickup in, get your lawn chairs and cooler and enjoy the rodeo.

And concessions are not going to break you either. Where else can you get a hot dog and a bottle of water for three bucks? The Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo has all the amenities that make small town rodeos so appealing. On Saturday there is a parade in the morning and a free rodeo dance at night. On Sunday there is rodeo breakfast at the fire station and Cowboy Church before the rodeo. And there is one more thing that really sets this rodeo apart from the mega-sized rodeos and that is the friendly people.

Part of what makes Grover special is that there is no air-conditioning and no covered arena. This is rodeo like it used to be – hot, dirty, windy, dusty, and occasionally, raining. There has not been rain at a performance of the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo for the last eight years. What rain there has been has held off until late in the afternoon when the performance was over. All that changed this Father’s Day. Everything started off like normal, then during the Bareback riding a storm blew in and it began to rain. And it really rained hard with a lot of pea sized hail. Out came the slickers and all the fans headed for their cars or the only cover there was, which was attached to the concession stand. The local 4-H Club did a years worth of sales in about 20 minutes!

The storms came and went all afternoon. Grover cowboys are tough and the rodeo never stopped except for about 15 minutes when there was so much rain and hail that the judges could not see the contestants. Grover fans are tough too – they would seek shelter during the hard rains and come back out when it slacked off. Few people left and everyone still had fun. The rain just added to the legend and added more stories for the next generation of fathers to tell their kids about how Grover “used to be.” So next Father’s Day, gather up the kids and head out to Grover and the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo and begin your own tradition.

Grover may be off the beaten path a bit, but it is not hard to find. Just head east on Hwy 14 and turn left at Briggsdale. Follow that road to County Road 120. Turn right and follow the paved road until it ends, and there is Grover. Just follow the crowds that are heading to the Earl Anderson Memorial Rodeo, the “Biggest Little Rodeo in the West.”