Like well-behaved bulls in a china shop, the grace and delicate touches of heavy-duty machinery operators will be tested at Southfield Park on Monday. Heber City Public Works is hosting its fifth annual Backhoe Rodeo at the Wasatch County Events Complex Indoor Arena from 4-7 p.m. The event is fr ee for spectators and will feature 80 competitors, including seven women, from local public works divisions competing in backhoe, trackhoe and side-load garbage truck challenges as the kickoff to American Public Works Association Week programming. The concession stand will be open, plus attendees can play a plinko board and purchase raffle tickets for camping chairs, fishing poles and coolers, with proceeds benefitting Paws for Life and the Children’s Justice Center. Backhoes denote wheeled machines with rear-situated excavating arms, while trackhoe is a colloquial term for a front-scooping crawling excavator. Chris Pedersen is Heber City Public Works’ program compliance administrator and designated safety officer who has his trophy from a previous backhoe rodeo displayed on his work desk. He’s been with the department for 16 years and participated in backhoe rodeos in St. George and Layton early in his career, but knows of nowhere else that currently hosts such an event. Pedersen is unable to participate in this year’s backhoe and trackhoe events, both because too many championships prompted his forced retirement from competition and he is recovering from a four-wheeler accident over the winter that broke his wrist in two spots and fractured eight vertebrae. “It’s fun to participate in, but it’s just fun to come and watch and see the skill level that some people have,” Pederson said. “It’s kind of an art I guess you can say, running equipment. It takes a lot of time and practice.” Jordanelle and Wasatch County Special Service Districts, Wasatch County Public Works, Midway Public Works, Heber Light and Power, and Heber City Public Works will all have representatives competing. Kody Giles of Heber City Parks and Cemetery won the trackhoe and backhoe rodeo trophies in 2025 and will be returning to defend his titles. This year, backhoe and trackhoe champions will receive a gun along with their trophies. The first hour showcases a set of backhoe precision challenges, and Pederson described the multifaceted nature of one test. “You pick a basketball off a cone with a digging bucket, then you take it over into a trench box and there’s a garbage can in a trench box and you have to put the basketball into the garbage can,” Pederson said. “If you knock it over, if you miss the garbage can or drop the basketball you lose points, and there’s tennis balls that sit on the corners of the trench box and if you bump the trench box and knock tennis balls off you get deducted points.” The trackhoe competition demands stacking tires with speed. Last year, Pederson couldn’t resist jumping out of retirement onto a trackhoe after the competition ended and stacking 16 tires in under three minutes to show that official champion Giles still has room for improvement. This year’s event will last three hours rather than the two hours of previous years, thanks to the introduction of the garbage truck obstacle course competition, with vehicles provided by Wasatch County Special Services. Pederson anticipated excitement with drivers taking the wheel of a new vehicle, himself included, in the discipline’s debut. “I haven’t been in one,” Pederson said. “That’s what my brother does every day. I was teasing him the other day and said, ‘I’ve never even ran one and I’m going to whoop you.’” Pederson cited benefits and the camaraderie that develops among workers as the reasons he chose this career in public works, and sees Wasatch County offering a model of worker appreciation that drew attention at a recent public works conference. “We had a roundtable event and talked to a lot of people from around the state from different public works agencies, and everyone was pretty surprised we put on as big of events as we do,” Pederson said. “We had a lot of people say this year that they wanted to come from different places, public works directors and employees, just to come see what we do because they want to start doing the same thing.” As further Public Works Week programming, the public is invited to attend a free dinner Party in the Park at Southfield Park on May 20 from 5-8:30 p.m., courtesy of the Public Works Department, The Hub and Mountainland Auto Sales. Last year’s picnic drew 2,000 people to the meal, bounce house, mechanical bull, face painting, balloon tying, lawn games and booths. Amanda Simpson from Wasatch County Public Works stacks tires during the trackhoe competition at the 2025 Backhoe Rodeo at Southfield Park Pavilion. Credit: Photo courtesy of Chris Pedersen. The post These rough riders wrangle backhoes in upcoming rodeo appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less