FARMINGTON -- Last Tuesday night was cold -- freezing cold, in fact. And perhaps even too cold for the "many" who were supposed to join the PETA-sponsored animal rights protest against the rodeo held as a cultural event for the Moscow-Utah Youth Winter Games.
Some 25 protesters waved "Buck the Rodeo" signs and jeered horse-trailer-towing pickups that passed the intersection where they stood, at Clark Lane and 1100 North. Inside the trucks an ocean of cowboy hats turned toward the protesters, and windows were quickly rolled down.
Some of the passengers, dressed in cowboy garb, leaned halfway out the window, and, slapping the side of the truck, yelled at the protesters, in what had become a common scene throughout the night.
In their shouts, the "cowboys" ushered a string of vulgar obscenities.
The protesters yelled back, although in such a flurry that it was largely unintelligible.
The police officer across the street remained calm. And the truck turned the corner and disappeared toward the FairPark's Legacy Center.
David Berg, a tall protester and vegan spoke for the group, assembled quickly by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the Utah Animal Rights Coalition (UARC).
"You know," Berg said, "the first rodeos were held in the 1930s or 1940s. That it is part of our culture is a myth."
Berg compared the rodeo to a magician's act, saying that the cowboys and cowgirls' performances were merely a facade.
Berg repeated, in answer to a question of how long something needs to happen before it is part of culture, his same message that what happens in the rodeo is not authentic.
"If you were to do anything on a modern ranch that they do in rodeos, you'd be fired," he said, "and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Absent from the protest were the signs that Sean Diener, from the national PETA offices, had said would carry PETA's "Buck the Rodeo" message in Russian.
Diener had said that the protest would be largely geared toward the visiting Russians. "We had the signs," said another protester nearby Berg, "but the timing didn't work out."
Consequently, when the large silver "Le Bus" transport carrying the visiting Russian athletes turned the corner, few glanced out the windows. It too disappeared toward the Legacy Center.
As the night went on, getting darker and colder, the protesters, many of whom had come without heavy winter coats, slowly trickled away. Only 15 or so remained with more than half an hour to go before the rodeo began.
Berg and his protesters were upset that their protest area was far from the Legacy Center's doors. A stack of anti-rodeo pamphlets remained in his hand.
"It's unfortunate that Farmington only allows us our Constitutional rights at this corner," Berg Said.
He said that Farmington had granted them a protest permit, even though they did not give the required 10-day notice. PETA says that they found out about the rodeo less than a week before it was to happen.
Berg said that he had spoken with a few who came by, although he wanted the chance to talk directly to those who, in his words, "put on the highly choreographed show."
"We'd love to speak with them in a rational manner," he said. "I'd love to have a rational debate with them."
Another truck drove by, again pulling a trailer. The cowboy hats turned to the protesters, and the windows dropped again.
Someone from the truck screamed another three-word obscenity.
A lone protester yelled back with a harsh, two-syllable expletive and an accompanying finger gesture.
The police officer across the street remained calm. And the truck and trailer, windows rolled up, disappearing toward the Legacy Center.