Franklin Rodeo still bucking
The rodeo may not be as old as wrestling, but the modern versions of both sports are similar: You'll see men battling beasts, high drama and low comedy, headlocks, falls, ropes, gaudy costumes...both are entertainment for the whole family, and at the rodeo, you don't have to be the Clampett family.
"Rodeo is still the number-one extreme sport in America," says Bill Fitzgerald, who is committee co-chair and arena director for the Franklin Rodeo, which gallops into town again for the 59th time, May 15-17, for nightly performances at the Williamson County Ag Expo Center.
The Franklin Rodeo is Tennessee's richest and oldest pro rodeo, with upwards of 400 cowboys and cowgirls competing for more than $60,000 in prize money in such rip-roaring events as bronco busting, bull riding, roping, steer wrestling and barrel racing. In addition to the ever-popular clowns, Lynn Payne, presented by the One-Arm Bandit and Company, will entertain with his buffalo. (We are intrigued to find out just what's on the buffalo bill.)
The Franklin Noon Rotary Club will again present the annual extravaganza, the organization's major yearly fundraiser and a sanctioned Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association event. Dodge is the new presenting sponsor of the Rodeo.
The PRCA is the big leagues of rodeo - such legends such as Ty Murray, Larry Mahan, Jim Shoulders and Lane Frost (made famous by the movie about his life, "8 Seconds") all competed in the PRCA. Fitzgerald says that since the Franklin Rodeo became a PRCA-sanctioned event four years ago, the quality of both the livestock and consequently the contestants have been dramatically improved. The event is produced by J Bar J Rodeo, Inc., which features National Finals bucking bulls and horses.
The Rodeo will come out of the chute bucking a week early, at the Rodeo Round-Up Party on Friday, May 9 at the Factory in Franklin, with cowboy chow provided by Texas Roadhouse and entertainment by Jerry Kilgore, and silent and live auctions. Proceeds will benefit breast cancer awareness, and various scholarships and grants.
Franklin's is one of the last rodeos in the country to hold a Rodeo Parade. The procession this Saturday (May 10) at high noon will include local school bands, floats, clowns, equestrians and hundreds of cowboys and cowgirls on horseback. It will line up at 11 a.m. at Highway 96 and 5th Avenue.
Texas Roadhouse will present Tough Enough to Wear Pink Night at its restaurant on Tuesday, May 13. Ten percent of sales from the night, and monies from T-shirt sales at the restaurant and the Rodeo, will go to the Breast Health Center at Williamson Medical Center. And at Kid's Night at Texas Roadhouse the next night (Wednesday, May 14), rodeo announcer Roger Mooney and rodeo clown Robbie Hodges will meet kids and sign autographs. The Rodeo itself starts on Thursday, May 15. Each night's performance will feature the seven traditional rodeo events - bareback bronco riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronco riding, bull riding and calf roping - and a special event for kids, the Muttin' Bustin', in which 10 mini-riders under 8 years old and 50 pounds try to stay aboard the wildest sheep in these here parts. Competing cowboys pay a fee to enter an event, and the Rotary Club adds to the kitty. The resulting handsome payoffs lure participants from all parts of the country; there'll be anywhere from 60 to 90 competitors in each of the events. The Franklin Rodeo, one of Middle Tennessee's largest and longest-running charitable events, supports more than 20 Williamson County charities, including the Boys and Girls Clubs, Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity, 4-H and the Red Cross, and provides college scholarships for local high-school students while lending assistance to the schools themselves. (Proceeds from the first Rodeo went to buy band uniforms for Franklin High.)
"We try to make it bigger and better and smoother-running every year," says Fitzgerald, who is working on his fourth Franklin Rodeo as arena director. It is his responsibility to book acts for the event, act as liaison between the stock contractor and the Rotary Club, and, as he says, make sure things run smoothly. With almost two decades in the rodeo business, Fitzgerald has seen more ups and downs than a cowboy on a bucking bull.
"The Rodeo has kind of taken a backseat to soccer and baseball (in the community) over the past few years," he says, "but we guarantee the fans who come out that they'll have a weekend to remember."
The 59th annual Franklin Rodeo will have performances at 7 p.m. on Thurs., Fri. and Sat., May 15-17 at the Williamson County Ag Expo Center. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for kids. Rodeo tickets are available at the Cowboy Store (615-591-7959) in Franklin, at the gate, or online at www.franklinrodeo.com. For more information, visit www.franklinrodeo.com or call 615-591-7959.
For every ticket sold to the Sat., May 17 performance of the Franklin Rodeo, $1 will be donated to breast cancer research and care at the Breast Health Center, a service of the Williamson Medical Center. Last year, the Franklin Rodeo donated $12,500 to the BHC, which went toward a new program at the Center. "The patients and families affected by breast cancer appreciate so much the Franklin Noon Rotary Club and their Franklin Rodeo for helping the Williamson Medical Center provide high quality care for this terrible disease," said Steve Smith, Executive Director of the Williamson Medical Foundation, Inc.
The Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign is a nationwide initiative that raises awareness of breast cancer and funds for researching a cure. Pro rodeos, equine events, and the western industry have been involved in raising funds, and in 2007, over $1.2 million was raised. This is the third year the Franklin Rodeo has been involved in the program.
Rodeo fans can be part of the solution by wearing pink to the rodeo on May 17.