The Benefits Of Having a Rodeo In Your Small Town

All across the United States, there are hundreds of small-town rodeos that take place every year. These rodeos have a variety of events that feature things for kids, teams from boarding high schools, and semi-pro and professional rodeo talent. Many times rodeos last for several days, and the benefits for small towns can be far reaching and long lasting.

 

Economic Boost

Those who participate in small town rodeo are not just made up of local talent. People travel from miles around to attend rodeos in small towns, sometimes coming from the semi-pro circuits, and others belong to teams from boarding high schools; however, this always means an influx or people who will be filling up their trucks at local gas stations, staying in local hotels and eating and shopping at local restaurants and stores.

 

Don't forget that because rodeos are often a multi-day event, there will be thousands of visitors who will visit the town, and perhaps even stay for a few nights. The impact of all of these people coming to a town, can have an impact from tens of thousands of dollars for a small town; But as the Huston Chronicle reports, in 2010 the Huston, Texas rodeo boosted by the economy by $100 million.

 

Engendering Unity

Most rodeo events are for those competing on specific rodeo circuits or for high school boarding schools; however, there are still events and even shows for the local community. The foremost of these, is probably the competing for rodeo royalty. This gives the community the opportunity to show support for the talented and ambitious candidates for the rodeo queen, and even select the rodeo queen. Winning the title often has a cash prize that can be applied toward college and can be a great resume builder.

 

Another way that communities rally around the local rodeo, adding a city fair. One example of this is in small town Pleasant Grove, Utah. Pleasant Grove is known, especially in its past, for producing strawberries. The rodeo was a time when farmers could sell their crops to the public. To this day, there is still strawberries and cream being sold at the concession stand. 

Ryan Muir is an academic writer for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. Information provided by Wasatch Academy. Follow on Twitter.