The 2016 Pike County Cattlemen’s Professional Cowboy Association Rodeo over the weekend attracted one of the largest Friday night crowds in recent years. The Western Festival and PCA rodeo on Saturday might have set attendance records for Saturday night rodeos.

“We had a great rodeo weekend at Cattleman Park,” said B.B. Palmer, park director. “We got off to a rocky start Friday night with a horse going down in the bareback event. It was the first horse out of the gate and it kept bucking and came down on the fence. It was feared that its neck might be broken but fortunately it’s not. She may not rodeo anymore but she’s a good brood mare and she’ll be kept for that.”

But, all in all, it was a great rodeo and a successful one,” Palmer said. “We had 212 cowboys and cowgirls to participate on Friday and Saturday and in slack and that was a good number. The times were fast and the riding was furious.

“We had one of the best announcers around in Clint Allemand. He kept the audience informed and entertained. We hope to have him back every time. Jake Willcox is a young clown but you wouldn’t know it the way he had the fans laughing and having a good time.”

Nearly 200 kids participated in the Western Festival Saturday afternoon and Palmer said the kids had loads of fun and the parents had just as much fun watching them.

“It’s always good to see kids coming out and enjoying the rodeo and the Western Festival will be a part of the rodeo, hopefully, from now on.”

Palmer said the Cattlemen plan events for the kids at each rodeo.

“At intermission, we always have the calf scramble where the kids come into the area and try to take a ribbon off a calf’s tail,” he said. “We also had the Gold Rush where kids searched in hay for quarters and we had mutton bustin’ and the kids tired to ride a bucking sheep.”

Palmer said many parents took advantage of the free kids’ tickets to bring the family out to enjoy the rodeo.

“Rodeo is good, clean family entertainment,” he said. “This year’s rodeo was about as perfect as we’ve had. Of course, there’s no perfect weekend or no perfect weather for rodeo. But we sure had a good one. The Cattlemen were happy, the cowboys and cowgirls were happy, the kids were happy and I think the fans were happy. That’s just about as perfect as it gets.”