Livingston Fourth of July Roundup

On the morning of July 2, folding chairs go down along Second Street in Livingston. A city ordinance forbids leaving one before 6:00 a.m., and the Livingston Area Chamber of Commerce advises setting out early because spots go fast. No seating is provided.

At 3:00 p.m. the Livingston Roundup Parade steps off from the corner of Second and Geyser. It runs up Second to Callender, along Callender toward Main, and back down Main to Geyser, and it typically lasts two hours. Three announcer booths along the route call out the acts. The Chamber asks watchers to bring an umbrella and leave their dogs at home. It counts the crowd at around 10,000 to 12,000 people, the largest gathering of Park County residents and travelers in the year.

The parade falls in the middle of a three-day holiday weekend. The weekend also holds the Festival of the Arts downtown and the Livingston Roundup Rodeo at the Park County Fairgrounds.

Goats, clowns and a 1950 truck on Main

In 2024 Leslie Feigel, the Chamber’s CEO, counted 132 organizations in the parade. “We have a herd of goats. We got a mini horse team: a three-year-old and a four-year-old riding two mini horses,” she said.

Tom Gelberg and Lynn Perkins of the Gallatin Shrine Clowns have ridden together in the parade for over thirty years. “We’ve known these guys for years and years; we’re friends,” Perkins said. The pair say they have their most fun before the parade, “clowning around.” They ride for the patients of the Shriners’ facilities. “We just want to support all of the patients who go to our facilities; we know it’s a hardship on them, and we feel for them.”

The longest-running entry depends on who is asked. In 2024 Feigel named the Shriners. In 2026 Laura Cota, executive director of the Livingston Depot Foundation, spoke of the Foundation’s truck. “This truck has been driving in the parade since about 1950,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any other float that’s been in the parade consistently since the 1950s, so we’re pretty proud that we’re the longest-running parade engine or float in the parade.”

By the Chamber’s count the 2026 parade was the 102nd. Its theme was “Celebrating America’s 250th.” Among the photographs the Chamber posted from 2025 are the Budweiser Clydesdales. The Chamber has put on the parade for decades, and the parade’s leadership has changed hands over the years.

Ceramics downtown, ropers at the fairgrounds

Downtown, the Festival of the Arts reached its 38th year in 2026. It brings artists and vendors from around the region. Cota listed the work: “Whether it’s painting, ceramics, drawing, furniture, everything in between.” The festival, she said, gives an opening to “the smallest of small businesses.” Kathleen Kaul, owner of the Murray Hotel, put the weekend’s draw this way: “It’s just that small-town feel where you can really have a good time. Livingston draws from all over just for that particular aspect.”

The rodeo runs July 1 through 4 at the fairgrounds on View Vista Drive. The 2026 rodeo was the 102nd. It is sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association. Bruce Becker, who was president of the Livingston Roundup Association in 2024, called it one of three Montana “gateway” rodeos in the week of Independence Day.

Before the four performances in 2026 came slack, held on the evening of Tuesday, June 30. Slack contestants are chosen by random lottery. Many prefer it because they can compete and leave for the next rodeo without waiting hours for their event. That evening rain beat on the tin awning of the covered grandstand. Country music played over the speakers until the announcer opened with tie-down roping.

Joel Harris of San Angelo, Texas, ran a 7.9. “The cool thing about Livingston is, a lot of the best guys come, but it makes it hard to win good checks,” he said, then loaded his horse for Ponoka, Alberta. Chet Weitz of London, Texas, ran a 7.7. “It’s a great rodeo, especially since I did good,” he said, laughing, before leaving for Mandan, North Dakota.

Cindy Meredith flew in from West Texas to follow the Fourth of July circuit. “All the top names end up in slack,” she said. “You get to watch a bunch of calf ropers, bulldoggers, and team ropers all at once.” Cindy and Michael Moore live five minutes from the grandstand and have come every year since 2010. “It’s not like a Texas rodeo, but it’s big money,” Michael said. Cindy pointed to the schedule: “we’re right on that circuit where they can go from here to Cody to Red Lodge.” Before every rodeo, Meredith said, comes the Pledge of Allegiance, the national anthem and a prayer.

The events are bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc, tie-down roping, bull riding, and for women, barrel racing and breakaway roping. The Park County Community Journal reported a $16,500 purse for each event, with added money. The Silver Creek Rodeo Company supplies the stock. Steve Kenyon, an RFD-TV personality, has announced for over twenty-five years.

The rodeo hosts more than 5,000 people each night, with fireworks every night. The fireworks are paid for by the Boots and Buckles ball, a February dinner of prime rib and a silent auction. Becker said the ball raised in excess of $40,000 one year, and about that much went up in the following summer’s fireworks.

Everyone needs a ticket to the rodeo, including babies on laps. Cali Simmons was crowned Miss Livingston Roundup for 2026 and Lila Trzpuc Miss Teen Livingston Roundup. Girls from 3 to 13 in the Little Miss contest ride in the parade and help with the kiddie rodeo.

Charlie Murphy and the first purse

Every telling of the rodeo’s founding begins with Charlie Murphy. The dates differ.

Becker, speaking in 2024, said that “in 1920, Charlie Murphy, who had been putting on rodeos at Madison Square Garden in New York City, came to Park County and set up our first rodeo.” KULR, citing the PRCA, put the roots in 1924, when Murphy, organizer of the Madison Square Garden Rodeo, decided to set up a rodeo in Montana.

The Park County Community Journal gives the fullest account. It names Murphy as owner of the Ox Yoke Ranch in Paradise Valley, now the Mountain Sky Ranch. With a few friends, it says, he held the first three-day rodeo over Labor Day weekend, with $2,500 in prize money. The event later became the Livingston Roundup Rodeo. The Chamber dates the parade to 1924.

A different date appears in a brochure the Chamber mailed out for the Roundup of July 2–4, 1937, now held by the Billings Public Library. The library’s description says the Roundup began in 1925. The brochure promised “An authentic and thrilling revival of the Old West as it was many years ago.” It explained events for newcomers: “Roping on the Dead Run,” “Riding the Wild Steer,” “Steer Bulldogging” and “Breaking a Horse to Ride.”

That summer the Roundup’s revenue went out as a loan to Park County High School to build bleachers at Sacajawea Park. The Helena Independent Record reported the loan on August 10, 1937. The association has kept building since. At the fairgrounds it has put up an arena fence, a crow’s nest, bleachers, a ticket booth and office, and chute gates.

A hundred bucking years

The Roundup marked its 100th anniversary on July 2, 2024. Governor Greg Gianforte issued a proclamation recognizing the 100th anniversary of the Livingston Roundup Rodeo Parade. It commemorated “100 Bucking Years” of tradition and of the people who organize the rodeo and parade each year.

The association opened rodeo week that year with a “100 Buckin’ Years” concert on June 28. John Michael Montgomery headlined as he left touring. Concert coordinator Barbie Roberts promised “about ten food trucks, Coke and Pepsi, and the local breweries.” The rodeo also grew from three days to four that year.

The rodeo’s money had grown as well. The Livingston Enterprise reported in January 2024 that the Roundup was the largest rodeo in Montana and 49th by purse among some 700 sanctioned rodeos in the country. Its 2023 payout to winners was $250,000. “When I started, we were a $40,000 added rodeo. This year, we are $132,000,” Becker said. Even with the extra day, the association turned away 120 rough stock riders.

Becker also described the people running it. “I’m 73 and getting too old for this game,” he said, noting that several directors were in their 70s. In the association’s 2026 crew photograph, the president is Caroline Billingsley. Bruce Becker’s name comes last in the bottom row.