08/07/2026
During our 115th celebration, the Reno Family was recognized and inducted into our War Bonnet Round Up Legends. . .
Long before the bright lights and grandstands, the War Bonnet Round Up began on the shoulders of early Western visionaries. None more influential than Jerome Frank Reno and the Reno Family.
Born in 1855 and raised on the rugged spirit of the frontier, Frank Reno built a ranching legacy across Utah, Montana, and Idaho. His family carved nearly 3,000 acres of ranchland out of the high desert, irrigated the sagebrush with a seven mile ditch, and helped shape the growing community of Idaho Falls through service, generosity, and leadership.
Frank Reno served as a justice of the peace for 20 years, became a founding director of the War Bonnet Round Up in 1911, and transformed Tautphaus Park into Reno Park, the first true home of Idaho’s Oldest Rodeo from 1915–1932. Every early relay race, trick rider, and dust clouded cheer rose from Reno ground.
It was more than a park, it was a cradle of Idaho’s rodeo culture, a gathering place where the Shoshone Bannock people carried forward traditions older than the town itself, and where neighbors became family.
One hundred and fifteen years later… we still ride on the shoulders of those early legends.
We honor the champions and the dreamers. The settlers and the storytellers. The family whose generosity, leadership, and land shaped Idaho’s Oldest Rodeo.
To the Reno Family, thank you for the ground we started on, the history we stand on, and the legacy we carry forward.
Because the War Bonnet Round Up isn’t just a rodeo… It’s a story of land, lineage, and the legends who made it possible. . .
-May Legends Live Forever-
www.warbonnetroundup.org
