CR Saddle Club bringing rodeo to fairgrounds
Miracle Rodeo planned for tonight
The Crowley's Ridge Saddle Club Charity PRCA Rodeo will kick off three nights of fun this evening with the Miracle Rodeo.
The Saddle Club is bringing the rodeo back to the Wiley T. Jones Fairgrounds this weekend after a Covid-forced hiatus.
Tonight's Miracle Rodeo will be followed by the sanctioned rodeo events on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 16 and 17,
A pair of new events added this year will see members of the Forrest City Fire Department in a bull-riding competition against members of the Forrest City Police Department on Friday night, and on Saturday, firemen from departments throughout St. Francis County will compete.
The local competitions will begin 6:30 p.m., preceding the sanctioned rodeo events that will begin at 7:30 nightly.
“On Saturday, as many departments in the county that we can get represented will face off against each other in the competition,” said Kendall Pettus, a fireman with the Newcastle Volunteer Fire Department. “It was suggested to us that the firemen do a bull riding competition to hopefully bring some more attention to the rodeo. Shane and I got together and asked some of the guys if they were interested in doing this and everyone was on board immediately."
Pettus stated that after speaking with Crowley’s Ridge Saddle Club President Bobby Huckaba, these competitions are included with the regular rodeo admission.
Huckaba said a team of junior bull riders will be participating in this year’s rodeo and rodeo clown favorite Trent McFarland is also returning.
"We will have the regular stuff like bareback riding, bronc riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping, bull riding and barrel racing," said Huckaba. "We will have some junior barrel racers that will include some local kids, and we will have a group of junior bull riders coming to ride.
“I'm sure we’ll have local kids in our junior barrel races,” continued Huckaba. “We will also have a calf scramble and we may have a mama’s dance. You never know what we are going to do.”
Huckaba said these events are sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, allowing participants to compete for points as well as cash prizes.
"These competitors are competing for prize money and a chance to go to the National Finals in Las Vegas to compete," said Huckaba. "This is a sanctioned event and part of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association circuits."
According to Huckaba, McFarland will also attend tonight’s Miracle Rodeo.
"At the Miracle Rodeo, we do hands-on, supervised horse rides with handicap people," explained Huckaba. "We also do wagon rides and hayrides. Trent will be there roping hay bales and things like that; just interacting with those involved."
Huckaba said there will be a concession stand as well as
mechanical bull again at the charity rodeo.
"We have been doing this for over 20 years," said Huckaba. "The rodeo starts at 7:30 each night and we are ready for it. Children 10 and under get in for free with a paid adult. Adults can pay $10 at the gate or buy advanced tickets for $9. A family of four with children 10 or under can come to the rodeo for $20.”
According to Huckaba, veterans will be honored during the rodeo as they have in previous years.
"It's all about giving back to the community," said Huckaba. "We try to keep this going. We will honor our veterans as we have the past 15 to 18 years. We will tell about their service and give them a plaque from the Saddle Club. All of our proceeds go to the Forrest City School District's Special Olympics program. Come on out and see us. We have plenty to eat and we will have plenty of fun."