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Rattan Junior Rodeo Celebrates 50 Years In 1964, kids and rodeo captured a community—and never let go.


t a time when small town rodeos are losing crowds, there’s one community that’s bucking the trend. In Rattan, America, the iconic sport rooted in the Old West is alive and well, even after fifty years of hard riding.


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More impressive, the Rattan event is a junior sport sponsored by the local chapter of Future Farmers of America (FFA). Participants must be 19 years or younger to compete. And compete they do, with students flocking in from across country, some headed for the professional circuit, others are greenhorns, looking for a thrill as they strap on to a bull or bronc for the ride of their life.


Today the Rattan FFA Junior Rodeo is one of the largest of its kind in the country, drawing huge crowds of spectators to the community. Loyd Deaton, former superintendent and vo-ag teacher for Rattan for many years, said visitors find what they are looking for in three evening performances filled with excitement, talent— and a lot of laughs.


Deaton and local resident Joe Perry 8 | august 2013


are credited as founders of the event. In 1964, the pair met to discuss the rodeo idea. Three weeks, and many days and nights of volunteer labor later, the first rodeo was born.


With rodeo stock furnished by local ranchers, and moms and students working a concession stand built with 2 x 4s balanced on an old barrel, the first rodeo brought in $100.”We thought we did pretty well,”Deaton joked.”So we took that money and used it to buy materials for the next one.” FFA members spent the winter making frame work for metal chutes. By the following spring, bucking chutes and bleachers were erected on site, with dads manning post hole diggers and welders to help with installation, and additional lumber and materials donated by Rattan businesses and other supporters from surrounding communities. Billy and Ann Peron furnished belt buckles for all the winners, and local sponsors footed the bill for prize saddles for the rodeo queen and little princess contests.


“This event has always been a community deal, and it still is to this


day,”Deaton said. “I could list 300 people who’ve helped make this what it is and I’d still leave someone out.”


As the rodeo grew they added new events such as mutton busting and a pig scramble for younger kids. ”We try to offer something for all ages,” Deaton pointed out.”We like to see’em rope and ride, but this other stuff makes it a family show.”


These days it’s a calf scramble, with up to 40 kids vying for prize ribbons looped around the tails of uncooperative calves. The big crowd pleaser, however, is the wild cow milking. Using Mexican bred stock known for their stormy disposition, competitors must capture and milk an unwilling cow before racing for the finish line. The result is chaos. “People holler and roll,” Deaton said.”It’s the funniest thing you’ll ever see.”


Rattan will celebrate its 50th FFA Junior Rodeo with nightly performances beginning at 8 pm, September 5-7 at Rattan Arena 1. The annual rodeo parade takes place September 7, followed by a barbecue dinner at Rattan School. ■


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