Top working cowboys and their families from throughout the Midwest have July 5-6 circled on their calendars.
“It’s the annual Santa Fe Trail Ranch Rodeo sanctioned by the Working Ranch Cowboys Association (WRCA),” according to Clay Wilson.
“This year’s competition again sponsored by the Morris County Youth Rodeo Association (MCYRA) will be extra special,” said Wilson, MCYRA president.
“The first ranch rodeo in the state and one of the first in the country was at Council Grove,” Wilson noted.
A number of ranch rodeos throughout the Midwest patterned their competitions after the one at Council Grove.
“In conjunction with our ranch rodeos, we started having a youth ranch rodeo for children of the contestants and other youth,” Wilson said. “This appealed to the community making our rodeo a family affair not just for the adults.”
Due to the attraction of such junior rodeos, now the WRCA is sanctioning youth competitions along with traditional ranch rodeos.
“We are excited to again host one of these WRCA youth ranch rodeos at Council Grove,” Wilson said. “While our regular WRCA competitions are Friday and Saturday evenings, the youth ranch rodeo is Saturday morning, July 6, at 10 o’clock.”
Featured youth events are calf branding, penning, doctoring, and ribbon roping with local ranchers providing that livestock. There will be no admittance fee to attend the youth rodeo with teams still welcome to enter.
A Youth World Championship Ranch Rodeo is during the 29th World Championship Ranch Rodeo in Amarillo, Texas, November 14-17.
“Our youngsters are so important. They are the next generation of our ranching community,” said Shawn Goemmer, WRCA president.
Throughout the year, qualifying youth ranch rodeo events will be geared for youth members 16 years of age and under. “Up to eight WRCA youth ranch teams will compete for the WRCA Youth World Champion title,” Goemmer said.
“Winner of the Santa Fe Trail Youth Ranch Rodeo will be qualified for that prestigious competition,” Wilson pointed out.
At the arena east of Council Grove, four member teams representing 14 ranches have entered the WRCA evening performances at 7 o’clock.
“Top scoring team from both performances qualifies for the WRCA World Championship competition,” Wilson said. “Several winners from previous Santa Fe Trail Ranch Rodeos have gone on to become world champions.”
Ranch bronc riding featuring some of the top bucking horses in the country will kick off each WRCA evening performance.
In a return engagement, OMAK Rodeo Company, owned by Don Reno of Nowata, Oklahoma, is again providing the broncs. The horses are the production of his “Born To Buck” rodeo bronc breeding program.
“These stout bucking horses have been contracted to a dozen top professional rodeos since the spring season began,” Wilson said.
“We are contracting some of our broncs to the famed Cheyenne Frontier Days again this year,” Reno said. “Several of the broncs we have there will also be at this year’s Santa Fe Trail Ranch Rodeo.”
Furthering the exciting colorful Western competition for the working ranch cowboys will be the wild cow milking event.
“This is always an anticipated feature,” Wilson assured. “It’ll be even more exciting for contestants and spectators alike this year.”
A working cowboy, rodeo champion Chris Potter of the Rocking P Cattle Company near Latham. is providing his big, rank, bright-speckled Longhorn cows for the event. “Those stout ornery momma cows will surely test the cowboys’ abilities,” Wilson added.
Additionally, “true to life cowboys’ work on the ranch” featured in the rodeo will be calf branding, stray gathering, and team penning.
“This livestock is provided by local ranchers straight from Flint Hills pastures here in Morris and surrounding counties,” Wilson said.
“The annual rodeo is a community event which wouldn’t be possible without supporters from a wide area. We are especially appreciative of the event sponsors this year,” Wilson emphasized.
They include ranch bronc riding, Hold’em Fence Company and Bachura Automotive; team penning, The Dustie Shelf; calf branding, The Tire Shop; stray gathering, TCT; and wild cow milking, Wishon Excavating.
Concessions by the sponsoring group will be available throughout each rodeo performance.
Additional information for entries and details is available from Wilson at 785-466-1359.
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