Some of rodeo’s top bull riders are coming to Alaska. So are some of Canada’s rankest bulls.

Some of rodeo’s top bull riders are expected when the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association makes its Alaska debut on Memorial Day weekend at the Alaska State Fairgrounds in Palmer.

So are some of Canada’s rankest bulls.

Frank Koloski of Rodeo Alaska said 34 of the PRCA’s top 40 bull riders have signed up for the May 29 PRCA Xtreme Bulls event.

And to make sure they get plenty of bucks for their bucks, 57 bulls will be provided by an Alberta stock contractor with a history of producing hard-to-ride animals.

The bulls will come to Alaska via two semis and a 32-foot trailer from Outlaw Buckers, a contractor that has sent bucking stock to the National Finals Rodeo.

“These guys are special. They’re pro athletes, these bulls,” Koloski said. “That’s like bringing in Major League Baseball.”

One of the bulls is named Moonlight Party, “and he is going to be sitting there waiting to see who his victim is,” Koloski said.

Moonlight Party is the designated “bounty bull” for the contest, and the winner of the May 29 contest gets to ride him. If that cowboy can stay on for eight seconds, he’ll earn five ounces of Bering Sea gold.

Also at stake is a $15,000 purse and other prizes. The event happens on a relatively slow weekend on the PRCA calendar, so participation could be good.

“The few guys I’ve talked to are pretty excited to be up there,” said Scott Kaniewski, the PRCA media director.

Kaniewski said he can’t recall anything quite like five ounces of gold being offered at any other PCRA event, and news of the prize “has started to spread to some of the bull riders and they’re excited about that too,” he said.

Bringing the PRCA to Alaska has been Koloski’s dream since he started Rodeo Alaska in 2010 (company motto: “No fear in the Last Frontier”).

“I’m so blessed. I am beyond words,” he said. “Every time I think about it I tear up, I really do. This means so much.”

Koloski, who said he has been building relationships in the PRCA world for several years, is making use of those contacts to bring up some of the best in the sport.

Dennis Halstead, a six-time winner of the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association’s Comedy Act of the Year, will work as clown and barrelman. Butch Kirby, a Hall of Fame bull rider and veteran NFR judge, will work as a judge. NRF regulars Dusty Tuckness and Nathan Jestes will work as bullfighters.

“So much talent is coming up here,” Koloski said.

Koloski said the list of cowboys signed up include six-time PRCA champion Sage Kimzey, the current PRCA leader in bull riding. Three others in the top-5 are also entered — Colten Fritzlan, Josh Frost and Laramie Mosley — as is 12th-ranked Ruger Piva of Idaho, who in the summer of 2014 was a top high school cowboy who competed in Alaska.

And then there are the bulls. This is the third summer Koloski has used Outlaw Buckers as the stock contractor for Rodeo Alaska events, and he said it was only because of COVID-19 he was able to get so many bulls.

“With Canada shut down they don’t have much work,” he said. “Otherwise they’d be totally booked serving the country of Canada.”

The animals eat a special diet and will be penned in a big, open field at the fairgrounds.

“I have every bit of steel that I own out at the fairgrounds, and I hope to god I have enough,” Koloski said. “We’ll have big pens for them to hang out.”

The Xtreme Bulls contest is part of a four-day Rodeo Alaska event May 28-31. Regular-season Rodeo Alaska events are scheduled for Friday night and Sunday and a kids rodeo is set for Monday. Tickets are available online or at Fred Meyer stores.