In the spirit of honoring the legacy of Don Harrington, 406 Heart is excited to bring PRCA rodeo back to Butte and back to The Don Harrington Arena!
Butte’s rodeo history reaches all the way back to 1931 when the first annual rodeo was produced by Kramer-Spillum-Murphy. In 1945 the South Side Businessmen’s Club was formed and in 1946 they bought the rodeo grounds for $10,000 and bought out the producer for another $5000. The SSBC continued to produce the annual rodeo through 1957 at which point they organized and turned over the rodeo grounds to the Butte Vigilante Rodeo and Saddle Club who produced the first Butte Vigilante Rodeo which was at the Civic Center.
In 1957 The saddle club started the plans to purchase the old dog track and build a new arena which was located west of the Brooks Hanna Ford Dealership. This facility hosted the rodeo and events for almost 50 years, until the point came in 2001 that people were having to park 10 blocks away. At which time it was decided that a larger facility was needed.
In 2002 Butte cowboy and nationally respected businessman, Don Harrington, donated 22.2 acres to the Butte Vigilante Saddle Club to build the new and current rodeo grounds. Don, a Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee, was instrumental in starting the college rodeo team at the University of Montana, Missoula where he roped calves and rode bareback horses and stumbled into a life-long career as rodeo announcer with his “Golden Voice”. In 1974 he was selected as the announcer for the National College Rodeo Finals in Bozeman, Montana, National High School Rodeo Finals in Tomah, Wisconsin and the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Don is the only announcer to have worked all three of these national finals rodeos in the same year.
It seemed only befitting that Don’s announcing career ended in 2004 when he announced his final rodeo at the Don Harrington Arena.
It is in the great spirit of Don Harrington that 406 Heart and Sankey Pro Rodeo, are honored to bring PRCA rodeo back to Butte, Montana!
