Elgin rodeo students compete at Oregon and Idaho state finals

Eight students from the Elgin Junior High/High School rodeo team, along with two other local high school students, were either headed to or had already completed state competition as the school year wound down. The group put Elgin, La Grande and Weston on the state rodeo map and showed that Union County’s youth pipeline is still producing riders who can clear the local and district levels and reach championship competition.

The Oregon High School Rodeo Association, formed in 1971, says its members are also members of the National High School Rodeo Association, and its state finals offer a path to the national finals. That structure gives the Elgin contingent more than a weekend of competition. It marks the next step in a long season of travel, training and qualification, where each ride, run and score has to hold up against the best young competitors in the state.

For Oregon, the 2026 state finals were listed for June 10-13 in Prineville on the association’s schedule, while a separate finals page listed June 11-14 at Crook County Fair Grounds in Prineville. The Crook County Fairgrounds says its site includes indoor and outdoor arenas, making the south end of Prineville a central gathering place for the finals and the athletes chasing a chance to move on to the National High School Rodeo Finals.

The Elgin showing also says something about the wider rodeo culture in Union County. The county’s rodeo calendar includes the Elgin Stampede, Eastern Oregon Livestock Show and Grande Ronde Rodeo, events that keep rodeo visible alongside school sports and other summer traditions. The Elgin Stampede lists its 2026 dates as July 8-11, another sign that rodeo is not a side note in this part of Eastern Oregon but part of the community’s annual rhythm.

That matters for Elgin because the story of these state qualifiers is not just about one set of results. It is about whether a small town can keep building riders who are ready for bigger stages year after year. This spring’s state entries suggest the answer is yes, and that Union County’s rodeo identity still has a strong future base.