SUMNER — Traditions float around the small, dusty arena where, on the 4th of July, the Sumner Saddle Club hosted its 75th annual rodeo. You can see them represented by the cowboy boots and hats, by the broncs and bulls, by multigenerational rodeo families carrying saddles and ropes. 

I’ve felt that vibe since going to the rodeo for the first time in 2011 and every year since.

This year, Dave Kearney, 76, of nearby Overton, watched his son-in-law and two grandsons compete in team roping at Friday night’s first session. Then he cheered for another grandson, 13-year-old Quinten Quintana, in Saturday’s steer riding.

Kearney himself rode broncs and bulls in his teens and early 20s, and then was a team roper for decades. “It was about three years ago since I roped,” he said. “I think it was here in Sumner.”

Most rodeo events in Sumner and everywhere else reflect practical skills that early settlers needed to train young wild horses to help move cattle across vast grasslands and rope calves on branding days. Competitions came along to determine the best bucking horse riders, fastest calf ropers and strongest steer wrestlers.

Almost every small Nebraska town has an annual celebration, many of them held in the summer. Sometimes, it’s centered on a rodeo or local history. Sometimes, it focuses on an ethnic heritage, like Czech Days in Wilber or the St. Patrick’s Day Festival in O’Neill. 

They always have dozens of activities. They always depend on many volunteers.

In Sumner, the 4th of July events include a parade, kids’ games, a car show, live music, hot dog buffet and, of course, fireworks. 

Earlier in the week, Sumner held an ice cream social, an alumni banquet for the local school, cornhole and sand volleyball tournaments and a street dance.

Sumner Commercial Club member Sarah Scoville said she and many others volunteer  “to keep our traditions alive.”

Veteran roper Kearney had a simpler reason for coming to Sumner every July 4th: “I just love rodeos.”