The rodeo is coming UPDATED WITH TUFFY THE BULL SIGHTING

10.12.11 - 9:28 am | Caitlin Donohue |

(0)

Well hey, urban cowboy -- catch you by the rabbit show

Perhaps it is one of the more incongruous yearly events in the city, but nonetheless the Grand National Rodeo has been taking over the Cow Palace for a pair of weekends for decades. It's a big one, one of the biggest such events in the country (From an Oct. 14, 1987 Guardian cover story by Jean Field: "Where I'm from, a rodeo or horse show a tenth the size of the Grand National would be the event of the year.")

It starts this weekend (Fri/14-Sat/15), but if you can't swing the trip to the Cow Palace you can catch the Grand National ride around -- with "rodeo icons" Cotton Rosser, Hollie Kucera Miss Grand National, Bronc the Roper, and Tuffy the Bull (?) -- TODAY AT 11 A.M. GO NOW.

Or you can continue to nurse your coffee. This and next weekend, you can catch rabbit shows, goat shows, hefty slabs of barbequed meat, steer wrestling, and some wholesome square dancing. And yes, a nightly rodeo. Fri/21 is the "Tough Enough to Wear Pink Night" to raise breast cancer awareness, perfect for those rose-colored shit stompers you picked up in Key West.

**UPDATE** Tuffy is an actual bull from north of Sacramento. He's in town to do promotions for the rodeo, he has a Facebook page, and he does not like to have his horns touched (or be near vintage road bikes, if his behavior this morning is any indication. Tuffy, Miss Grand National, and four other dapper gents on horses will be out in the Civic Center until 1 p.m. or so.