Chili Dinner Roundup
The annual buffalo (American Bison) roundup on Antelope Island is arguably the most popular and iconic attraction of Antelope Island State Park. It is usually held on the last weekend of October and attracts more than 200 wild west Buffalo Bill wannabees, everything from professional, expert cowboys to the occasional weekend riders. For many, especially the mounted search and rescue teams, it is “not their first rodeo.”
The horsemen and horse women gather at the Fielding Garr ranch on the eastside of the island about 8:00 a.m., many come the night before and camp out in their motor homes, trailers or tents. After roundup instructions are given by former park manager Jeremy Shaw, the riders, both the regulars and the first timers, saddle up and ride south and west looking for the scattered bison. The intent is to push the 700-plus head of America’s most iconic animal to the fenced corals on the northern end of the island where they will be rested for a week, then one-by-one “worked” through the chutes to be given their annual physical.
The roundup, if all goes well, is usually mostly finished by midafternoon and the riders make their roundtrip ride back to their trailers and camps. That’s when the Antelope Island Friends group goes into action. For more than 15 years, “Friends of Antelope Island”, a non-profit, volunteer organization dedicated to raising funds in support of the island experience, has hosted a chili dinner for the riders.
Friends has developed its own chili recipe – “best chili I’ve ever had” is a common compliment – and served bubbling hot out of 14” Dutch ovens under the roof of the old sheep-shearing barn at the Fielding Garr ranch. About 100 of the tired, sometimes dusty, and many saddle-sore riders stick around for the welcome dinner. “It’s not fancy,” says Friends’ dinner coordinator Spence Kinard, a past president of the organization, “but a hot bowl of chili with cheese and onions, a buttered-roll and donut is a welcome post-script to a hard day in the saddle.”
Many of the roundup range rovers spend another night camping out under the Antelope Island night sky – Antelope Island State Park is officially designated one of the 26 Dark Sky parks in Utah. The dinner is free but contributions are always welcome to help off-set the costs and maybe even raise a dollar or two toward the Friends mission of supporting the park.
To ride you need to register in advance and pay the registration fee, but anyone can come watch. So next October, come to Antelope Island State Park to watch one of the great western spectacular events, the roundup via horseback of 700 head of wild, free-roaming American bison. And afterwards, stick around for a free chili dinner and listen to the tales of what happened on the range that day.
