"It's huge, it's huge, it's huge!" exclaimed George Raya. "I'm so excited. The rodeo is coming to town!"

Now, it's true that Raya is the publicist for the Ninth Annual Sierra Stampede Rodeo & Festival, produced by Capital Crossroads Gay Rodeo Association. But it's also true that he has a lot to be excited about.

With gay rodeo groups in Reno, Los Angeles and San Francisco reportedly unable to put on their rodeos this year, Sacramento's event this weekend is the only such rodeo in this part of the country. Raya says it will draw more than 100 competitors and nearly 1,000 fans to the Central Park Horse Arena at 848 Elkhorn Blvd. in Rio Linda. Those numbers would be nearly double last year's.

"Last year was the first time in seven years that we were part of the international association circuit," Raya said. "This week we are the international focus. Last year, we put ourselves on the map because when they came last year they saw how big we are locally, and how passionate and involved our people are. They were blown away. This has been the biggest rodeo committee we've had."

Competitors are coming from all over the western U.S. and Canada, including New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada, as well as all over California, since the only other gay rodeo to be held in the region this year will be in San Diego later in the summer. There was a gay rodeo in Palm Springs last month, at which 11 members of the Sacramento Capital Crossroads Gay Rodeo Association brought home three buckles and 17 ribbons, and placed fourth overall.

Those cowboys and cowgirls are coming for the competition — and for the parties, too.

"Cowboys love to drink; they love to dance and party," he said, noting that tonight's events will focus on these activities. There is a pool party this afternoon at Faces, and Friday night there will be registration and drinking at the Red Lion Inn on Arden Way. When that shuts down at 9 p.m., the party will move to The Bolt, a low-profile gay bar at 2560 Boxwood St. off Del Paso Boulevard.

"There's an online group called HomoRodeo.com — they are having their national party there [The Bolt], too," Raya said. "Last year, the bar owner said the Friday night of the rodeo was his biggest night of the year."

When it starts at 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday morning, the rodeo will go all day, until 6 p.m. both days. Tickets are $10 a day and free for children under 12.

The decidedly non-traditional rodeo itself will feature many of the traditional competitions familiar to rodeo fans everywhere, including horse events, steer roping, bull riding and even clowns. And then there are a few competitions that might not be so familiar, such as steer deco, goat dressing or the wild drag race.

While that might sound silly to the more traditionally minded, there are people who take the event seriously: the sponsors. This year, The Sierra Stampede has drawn major sponsors such as Red Bull, Jack Daniels, Bud Light and Wells Fargo Bank, who don't throw their promotion dollars at just anything.

In fact, Raya said, "We're the only gay rodeo in the whole country with Jack Daniels as a sponsor. The only one."

But Raya points out that the reason the capital rodeo has continued to grow when others have shut down is not the sponsors. It's the volunteers. And their numbers are growing, too.

"Normally, we've got six or eight people to put the tents and stables up," he said. "This year we had 20 people working. It's beautiful. It's working so well. We know what we're doing. We put on the beer garden for the Lambda Center's fundraiser each year, and we raise about $25,000 a year for them.

"You need a core group of dedicated volunteers to do this," Raya said."We have 120 paid members, and they bring in more volunteers. It takes a lot of money and a lot of volunteers, and they just don't have them in L.A. and San Francisco. There's so much else happening in those cities, it's hard to get people signed on."

Proceeds from the rodeo will benefit Saddle Pals, a therapeutic horsemanship program of United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Sacramento. Last year the rodeo raised $8,000 for Saddle Pals.

On Saturday night, the partying will continue at an open-air dance at 20th and K in Midtown Sacramento. Dance Under the Stars will go from 8 p.m. to midnight, and tickets are $10.

For more information on this weekend's events, visit capitalcrossroads.org.