After long break, Chowchilla Western Stampede scheduled to return in March

After a long break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chowchilla Western Stampede Cattle Drive is back.

This year’s stampede, the event’s 65th anniversary, is scheduled for 10 a.m. March 4 to kick off the rest of the weekend festivities.

Eight-steer roping is scheduled for March 5 at 8 a.m. and a “Lady’s Breakaway” roping event is Saturday, March 5 at 6 p.m. The barrel race takes place March 12-13.

“It’s a big tradition,” said Stacy Wisener, recreation and community outreach manager for the City of Chowchilla. “We’re maybe one of two or three places that still has a stampede.”

Every year, ranchers and members of the community drive cattle through town on Robertson Boulevard to open the weekend-long Western Stampede events, which have included team roping activities and barrel racing.

The cattle drive, according to the city’s website, started in 1958 when local farmer Paul Perry and a group of cowboys drove 150 steers and 60 calves through the middle of town on their way to delivering the animals to the Madera County Fairgrounds in Chowchilla for Western Stampede events that weekend.

The weekend-long event has attracted up to 18,000 people in the past, and despite the two-year hiatus during the pandemic, the festivities remain a valued part of the community’s culture.

“Usually you see familiar faces you know from the past,” said Wisener. “It brings an energy to Chowchilla.”