On Friday night, the bleachers at the Lowndes County Extension Service Arena were packed for the first night of the Lowndes County Benefit Rodeo. The crowd was a mix of young, old, first-timers and veteran rodeo attendees.
As country music played over the speakers, people danced and clapped along in their seats, excitement building for the coming main event.
Horses entered the arena and the audience’s anticipation was palpable. The crowd cheered and gasped as the cowboys and cowgirls sped by bareback riding, barrel racing or calf roping, occasionally falling from their mounts.
“Though, I’m still waiting to see the bulls,” said Ryan Campos while standing with his friends Austin Holt, Ryan Crim and Heath McLeod during an intermission. Only Campos had been to a rodeo before.
Bull riding, the most dangerous event, was Friday night’s finale.
The intermissions were not without action, as children in the audience raced into the arena to compete for money and gift cards in a hay scramble, pig catching and cow chasing.
“It seems like a really tight-knight community,” McLeoud said. “… You see the kids go out there. It’s so much fun. I feel so involved even though I’m not really doing nothing.”
Jahbu James, a gym owner and personal trainer, brought his family out for their first rodeo to celebrate the birthday of one of his clients.
“We came out to celebrate and enjoy,” he said. “So we didn’t have any expectations. It’s all been nice.”
Joshua Tilley, Mississippi State University Extension agriculture agent for Lowndes and Noxubee counties and an organizer of the second-year event, said he is glad the rodeo can be an entry point to cowboy culture for those who haven’t experienced it before.
“It seems like this day and time, people don’t have access to horses and cattle and stuff like that,” said Tilley. “… But you know (the rodeo) just seems like this is a great opportunity for people who have never been exposed to cowboy culture and western lifestyle to get that experience in.”
This year’s rodeo raised money for Lowndes County Humane Society, Lowndes County Community Benefit Committee and Lowndes County Cattlemen’s Association scholarship fund, which goes to local graduating seniors. The pot will be equally split across all three, Tilley said.
The final pot has not yet been calculated. Tilley estimated last year’s rodeo raised $16,000 for last year’s beneficiaries with about 2,300 people in attendance. This year he expected more than 2,000 people to attend and was pleased with the turn out, although the final attendance count is not yet available.
Some small changes were made to this year’s rodeo to improve the event, including adding tractors with trailers to drive people from the parking lot, live music and newly installed fans, Tilley said.
“The fans made it really bearable out there (on Saturday),” he told The Dispatch on Sunday.
The live music started at 5 p.m. although most people on Friday arrived closer to 7 p.m. Tilley worried people didn’t know about the concerts and tailgating happening beforehand. He is planning to increase advertising of the concert for next year’s rodeo.
On Friday night, Jessica Horton and Blayne Saine performed, with Saine going on to compete in the calf roping that night. Mason Honnoll, Christian Honnoll and their band played Saturday.
Tilley said MSU Extension is always hoping to grow and improve the rodeo, but they consider this year’s to be a success.
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