With top-notch stock and world-class cowboys and cowgirls in attendance, the Kitsap County Fair and Stampede has been chock full of excitement despite lots of empty seats over the first two days of competition.

“Tonight I was expecting for a few more people out,” Rodeo Association director Gene Johnson said Thursday night. “I’m hoping they’ll fill it up on Saturday night. But I’m really happy how things have gone so far.”

The rodeo wraps up at 7 p.m. tonight at Thunderbird Stadium.

With one of the toughest jobs in the arena, bullfighter Joe Baumgartner has been impressed with the way things have gone.

“Every bullrider walked out of the arena, I walked out of the arena — it was a good night,” said Baumgartner, who has worked the past six Kitsap rodeos. “This is a great rodeo. Everyone here is just treated like a king.”

Port Orchard saddle bronc rider Gary Bruhn Jr. had a rough ride aboard stock contractor John Growney’s Pony Soldier with a 64-point showing.

“I didn’t have quite enough horse,” said Bruhn, a third-generation rodeo cowboy who had a section of bleachers filled with his family. “I’ll have to get ’em next time.”

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