779 people competed in St. Paul Rodeo this year. They will all come to the secretary’s office to sign, ask questions about the contest or at least get a pass to get dinner.
The person they are all looking for, and most of them know, is Debi Davis, the rodeo secretary. All St. Paul Rodeo, which runs through July 4, is curated by him. He compares this work to herding cats.
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“Hello, Miss Debi,” said another boy before asking a question. He answers as he assembles four more jobs.
From April to September, Davis works 16 days as a secretary for rodeos throughout the west.
Beyond all the administrative duties, Davis is the person every rider needs to find if they want answers about what’s going on during the show. She is also the mother of the den, the secret and the social organizer for the rodeo cowboys.
Debi Davis is like a St. Louis air traffic controller. Paul Rodeo.
If you want to know how a rodeo works, watch it for a few hours.
Debi Davis knows all the cowboys who compete in St. Louis. Paul
A wrestler from Oklahoma walks into Davis’ office and asks a question. He is respectful when he calls her his wife and says “thank you” after helping her.
Debi Davis, rodeo secretary for St. Paul Rodeo, pictured on Thursday, July 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Ore. Davis directs competitor entries and helps oversee the operation of the annual rodeo, in which 779 competitors participated this year.
The man smells of marijuana.
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Davis knows him well, as he has hundreds of rodeo cowboys. As he leaves the office, Davis says he likes the man, but doesn’t understand how he can compete.
He knows almost all the cowboys who come to his office, and almost all of them respect him greatly. Many of them called her “ma’am.”
Davis has been a rodeo secretary for more than 30 years. She was an emergency medicine technician for ten years and owned a construction business with her husband, Larry.
Davis became involved in rodeo as a secretary in the early 1990s through a brother-in-law.
“We have to go to school. It’s like anything else,” Davis said.
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That education only taught him X’s and O’s on the job. He had to learn more on the job.
“There’s always something different,” she said.
Now that Davis is a professional rodeo secretary, he spends his spare time as a race car driver.
Davis was the secretary of the rodeo in St. Paul from 2021 when he takes over from Kevin Smith.
16 hour days are part of being a rodeo secretary
A typical day for Davis at St. Paul Rodeo starts at 7 a.m. Ends around 11 p.m. He doesn’t go out more than a few minutes at a time and drinks a lot of coffee.
His friend, Patty Bonner, recently retired and joins him on the road at many rodeos as his assistant. It made the traveling life of a rodeo clerk a lot easier and more fun.
Debi Davis, rodeo secretary for St. Paul Rodeo, center, helps competitors enter before the rodeo Thursday, July 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Ore.
Bonner says he has to remind Davis to eat. On a recent day, Bonner asked if she wanted a sandwich.
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“I don’t know, I don’t have time to think right now,” Davis replied.
He was lucky to have five minutes to get dinner. But instead of sitting down to eat, he takes food back to the secretary’s office and eats watermelon in between answering questions and helping the cowboys.
When Bonner brought him a sandwich, it took Davis more than an hour to find time to eat it.
“Do you need to sleep?” Davis said to the yawning officer.
“I just had a lot of fun,” replied the officer.
“That’s your problem,” Davis said.
Between April and September, Davis spends several days a week in almost every western state.
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His schedule takes him from Red Bluff, Calif. took him to Mountain Home, Idaho, Sheridan, Wyo. and more.
He’s at the point where he’ll be riding so many rodeos that he’ll be sleeping in his bed at his home in Spokane, Wash., for just a few nights until September.
Debi Davis, rodeo secretary for St. Paul Rodeo, prepares the list of competitors for Thursday, July 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Ore.
“It happens every weekend from the middle of June until the second week of September,” said Davis.
Keeping the attitude light when things get rough
Over the course of an hour, Davis and Bonner’s interactions with the rodeo contestants vary. They often joke with the cowboys to keep the mood light.
“Hello, there,” Bonner said to the cowboy. “What can I do wrong?”
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Although many cowboys are respected, some have not passed the years. Don’t worry. The old cowboys took them outside and guided them.
“If they need anything, they should get it from me,” Davis said.
Davis brings hundreds of poker chips from rodeo to rodeo to determine which cowboys chase which livestock. When it’s time for Davis to draw, he kicks everyone out of the secretary’s office.
“I’m locking the door,” Davis said.
He and a few judges will draw poker chips while the cowboys stand outside the door and wait nervously to find out which animals they will be chasing in front of an arena filled with 10,000 souls.
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Technology has changed his work in some ways.
The judges and staff of St. Paul Rodeo is preparing a list of competitors and cattle for Thursday, July 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Ore.
Davis says there were times when he would have $30,000 to $50,000 in cash and check the entry fees at the rodeo office. Now you will have a part of that.
Registration is done entirely online. So are payments.
The hundreds of pages of event lists, schedules and charge sheets he produces on one of the three printers he transports from town to town are almost worth their weight in gold. It’s one of the ways in which rodeo defies evolution. The board outside the secretary’s office is considered old school.
Ups and downs are part of the rodeo lifestyle
During the rodeo, Davis receives calls from cowboys running late with requests:
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“Can you hold a rodeo?”
“Can you take me down an order?”
“Can you change the order?”
Debi Davis, rodeo secretary for St. Paul Rodeo, center right, jumps cattle to compete Thursday, July 2, 2026, in St. Paul, Ore.
He says the cowboys will try to pull anything from him.
After the completion of St. Paul Rodeo on July 4th and Davis and Bonner will be packing up, returning to their hotel in Woodburn around 1 am.
They will leave their hotel in Woodburn before 5 a.m. and travel 1,000 miles to Sheridan, Wyo., hoping to arrive by 1 a.m.
“It keeps us both happy,” said Bonner, who met Davis while working for the Spokane fire department. “Where I drive, you can work, we always have fun and try, if you are frustrated and burdened, there is someone.
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Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com
This article first appeared in the Salem Statesman Journal: Debi Davis is the woman who keeps St. Paul Rodeo is going.
