PRINEVILLE — Alfred “Beaver” Peone has spent most of his life racing and training horses.

The 67-year-old horseman from Spokane, Wash., grew up riding his dad’s Shetland ponies before his own professional career as a jockey and trainer took off, taking him all over the Pacific Northwest and up and down the West Coast.

Having seen just about every dirt track from Missoula to Grants Pass multiple times over, Peone — with a wide grin — says the vibe in Prineville sets it apart from the numerous other small-town tracks he visits during the seven-month race season.

“Everybody here likes to get loose,” Peone joked during the opening night of the 2013 Crooked River Roundup horse races. “And boy do they get loose. The beer garden always does good business here.”

Prineville’s biggest party of the year kicked off Wednesday at the Crook County Fairgrounds with eight races staged on the first of four nights of racing.

Officially started in 1966 — though locals will tell you there was plenty of racing here before then — the horse races have grown to become one of Central Oregon’s most popular summer events. More than 13,000 spectators are expected to attend at least one night of Crooked River Roundup racing this week.

“I’m just an old Montana farm boy,” said Terry Mero, 70, a Bend resident who was checking out the races for the first time with friend Bev Gordon, 71, also of Bend. “Last week we took in the La Pine Rodeo. This is just like being back home.”

Run almost entirely by volunteers, the horse races rely on as many as 100 unpaid “employees” who take wagers at the betting window, water the racetrack, serve beer and do just about everything else in between.

“I probably called about 175 people to help,” said Celeste Wentzel, 35, a Prineville native who has been the races’ pari-mutuel betting manager for the last three years. “We’ll probably have 40 people (working the betting window) tonight.

“I got suckered in,” quipped Wentzel, who sits on the CRR’s board of directors. “We used to come down here when we were little. We’d go to the carnival that used to be next door and mom and dad would go to the races. … You can’t get this anywhere else in Central Oregon. It’s just fun to be a part of.”

While Wentzel is usually overseeing the madness that is the betting window, longtime spectator/volunteer Bob Cyphers, of Bend, makes sure the beer flows like water at the Crook County Fairgrounds.

“I make sure all the taps are working, I change kegs, move canned beer,” said Cyphers, 70, who worked in the beer industry before retiring seven years ago.

“And of course,” he added to his list of responsibilities, “quality control.”

Cyphers, who is now retired, said he has been coming to the CRR horse races for the past 27 years.

“It’s the perfect venue for selling beer,” he said. “If you have nine races, that means you have eight intermissions. Eight halftimes.”

Of all the events he worked or attended while in the beer business, this is the only one that he keeps finding time for in retirement.

“It’s the people, the horses, just the whole event,” Cyphers said. “It’s mostly the people in Prineville. It’s just different and laid-back.”

Racing continues tonight, Friday and Saturday; first post time each evening is 7:15. Entry is $5 per spectator, and all ages are welcome.

Crooked River Roundup horse races

When: Through Saturday, races start at 7:15 p.m.

Where: Crook County Fairgrounds, Prineville

Cost: Tickets are $5 each night