Donny Martin Memorial Bull Ride this weekend

Never Forgotten:
The monument at the Bobby Jones Arena in Cottonwood salutes bull fighter Donny Martin who died after being injured in a rodeo, in Bishop on June 15, 2008.

The second annual Donny Martin Memorial Bull Ride is being held July 17-18 in Penn Valley. The event will benefit the Donny Martin Memorial Scholarship fund. The scholarship is currently awarded to seniors that have been involved in high school rodeo. This years recipients were Dustin Mackie of Los Olivos, California and Bailey Corkill of Fallon, Nevada.

The event will include a dinner, auction, trick roping, cowboy poetry and kids activities on Friday. Saturday night will include mutton busting, a rodeo clown contest, raffles, calf dressing and calf riding. The Donny Martin Memorial Bull Ride will begin at 7 pm. Tickets for Saturday night are $10. Locally, they can be purchased at the OK Corral in Cottonwood for $8 pre-sale. The event will be produced by the Outlaw Rodeo Company of Sheridan.

Donny Martin was a resident of Cottonwood for many years and fought bulls for twenty years. He was named Bull Fighter of the Year eight times by the California Cowboys Professional Rodeo Association.

Martin was 42 when he was fatally injured while trying to corral a charging bull at the 2008 California High School Rodeo Finals in Bishop.

Martin was a Penn Valley native whose ambition as a five year old to be a "lover, a fighter and a wild horse rider." His job was a serious one, saving lives in the rodeo arena.

Just out of high school Martin became a bull fighter and followed the rodeo circuits. In recent years, he participated in Junior rodeo events. Last year, Martin was quoted as saying, "My favorite part of being a bull fighter is being able to make a good save for a cowboy and being able to watch a good ride."

There will be local bull riders and local youth from the Western Regional Bull Riders Association participating in the event. All proceeds from the event will go to the Donny Martin Memorial Scholarship Fund for graduating seniors in high school rodeo.