Noted rodeo clown comes to Santa Fe
Ronald Burton will entertain crowds
Usually it’s the cowboys and the animals who are the stars of the Rodeo de Santa Fe. But this year, there’s an added twist for the final two nights of the 68th year of the event. Tonight and Saturday will feature rodeo clown extraordinaire Ronald Burton, who will make sure to keep folks in stitches during the down times.
“He was named six-time entertainer of the year by his peers,” said rodeo spokesman Jess Frank, who has been around this rodeo biz a long time. “This guy is funny. He told me stories I had never heard before and I thought I had heard them all.”
It’s Burton’s first time at the Rodeo de Santa Fe, but he said it’s been a goal for some time.
“I’m blessed to be here,” he said. “I’d like to invite everybody to come out. There’s going to be top cowboys and cowgirls, prize money to get them going. You’ll see a little bit of everything.”
Last year’s payouts for the rodeo’s competitors topped $100,000.
“This is the best pro rodeo in this state,” Frank said. “I would match the entertainment and quality of the rodeo, and of the stock and cowboys in pro rodeos in the state of New Mexico and a lot outside the state of New Mexico.”
And while Gordon is the top barrel when it comes to rodeo clowns, he’ll have plenty of company as The Rodeo Clown Reunion also will be a part of the festivities, with an All-Star band of about 40 hall-of-fame and venerated performers from the past who will put on their specialty acts, Frank said.
“This is our third clown reunion and this is the largest one we’ve had,” he said. “They’re going to work an oldtime clown act during the performance this year (today) and Saturday.”
The old-timers also will be signing autographs under the bleachers.
“They were superstars in their day and some of them are still superstars today,” Frank said.
Likewise, Burton is a superstar in his own right and heading for the hall of fame himself.
“To me, it’s all about good clean, family fun,” he said. “I’ve been blessed with the ability to make people smile, make people laugh. Rodeo fans are the best fans in the world, so I want to make sure every person there enjoys that rodeo.”
He started in the other end of the business before trading in his stirrups for suspenders and a trademark redand-white-striped shirt.
“I started out as a bull rider and I rode bulls for six years,” Burton said. “I could see that I was never going to be able to make it a career and the clown thing just kind of came natural to me.”
Although his gig at Rodeo de Santa Fe is strictly one of entertainment, he’s also handy as a bullfighter, helping steer the beasts away from fallen riders.
“A rodeo bullfighter is there to protect the bull rider,” Burton said. “So he does whatever it takes to distract that bull, to use his body as a moving target. The bullfighter’s job is to entice that bull to come to him instead of the bull rider.”
This time around, however, his role isn’t quite so dangerous.
“When you’re dealing with livestock, they have a mind of their own and things are not always going to go smoothly,” Burton said. “To keep there from being the lull in the rodeo, I’m wearing a wireless microphone and I’ll do a piece of standup comedy or a comedy act with the props that I’ve built. I heard one rodeo clown say it best: ‘We’re kind of like the glue that holds the rodeo together. If something falls apart, it’s our job to put it back together.’”