and fun weekend

By JAINE TREADWELL

Features Editor

The Pike County Cattlemen’s Professional Cowboy Association Rodeo has become a Memorial Day tradition and the excitement is building for what promises to be the biggest and best ever.

B.B. Palmer, public relations chairman for the Cattlemen, said part of the excitement is centered around the new facility which will be "broken in" with this rodeo.

"We are extremely proud of Cattleman Park which includes a covered rodeo arena," Palmer said. "No matter what the weather is like, the rodeo will go on."

The rodeo will begin both Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. and there will be roping, bucking and riding events that will keep fans on the edge of their seats.

"We always have a great rodeo," Palmer said. "The competition is top quality and

some of the best cowboys around have entered. If we didn’t have anything but the rodeo events, that would be worth the price of the ticket, but we do have more."

This year the rodeo will feature Joan Ronalder, equestrienne extraordinaire, who has performed with rodeos, wild west show, theme parks and circuses from Florida to Canada and from the East Coast to the West Coast.

Ronalder’s act is unique and original and the performance of her two horses, Lakota and Cisco is fantastic, Palmer said.

"The narration and choreography will take you to another place in time when horses and Indians were still free."

Professional rodeo clown, Reggie Purvis, will once again entertain at the Pike County Cattlemen’s Memorial Day weekend rodeo.

In the business of professional rodeo, there are three types of clowns – the comedy clown, the barrel man and the bullfighter. Most clowns specialize in one or the other, but Purvis is all three "rolled" into one.

He has been voted the PCA

Bullfighter Clown of the Year and

the Rodeo Clown of the Year. His act is one that will keep fans in stitches and get him "in" stitches if he can’t take the bull by the horns.

The announcer is the crucial link between the audience and the action in the arena.

No one is better than T.J. Williams, and Palmer said he will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to Rodeo 2001.

"Williams is a great rodeo announcer," Palmer said. "He is energetic, organized and he has the gift of gab."

With cowboys, clowns, speciality acts and the best announcer around calling the action, the Pike County Cattlemen’s PCA Rodeo will provide plenty of action and family fun for Memorial Day weekend.

"We hope everyone will make plans to be there," Palmer said. "It’s going to be a great rodeo, so don’t

miss it."