Abilene, Kan. (June 29, 2015) – Old Abilene hearkens back to its days as a cowtown for four days each summer.
It’s when the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo stampedes into town, bringing cattle back to the town that saw thousands of them along the Chisholm Trail.
But as the world has changed, the cow town of Abilene has changed as well. Now, every late July and early August, instead of playing host to thousands of cattle and trail-weary cowboys, it’s the home of 400-plus cowboys and cowgirls, still looking for a paycheck, but this time not for driving doggies to town but for roping, riding, wrestling, and running barrels.
The Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo is July 29-August 1, with the best cowboys and cowgirls in the nation and plenty of fun for the fans as well.
There’s mutton bustin’ during every night of rodeo, the funny antics of rodeo clown Matt Merritt, the distinctive voice of rodeo announcer Mike Mathis, and the dodging that bullfighters Ethan McDonald and Dustin Brewer do each night in front of the bulls. And the bulls owned by the Sammy Andrews Rodeo Co. aren’t headed for slaughter, as those early cattle driven to town were, but are well-known rodeo athletes in their own right.
The rodeo has changed a lot in the last two decades, says Ron Shouse, who was a fair board member for eight years in the 1980’s. Back then, there was no rodeo committee; the fair board put on the rodeo, in addition to their other duties and events. But the rodeo was floundering, and Shouse, along with the other fair board members, debated creating a rodeo committee who would handle the rodeo. “We realized these (rodeo volunteers) were pretty dedicated to the rodeo, and they really had a heart for it, so we decided to give them autonomy as a separate entity.” That was in 1985, and since then, the rodeo has grown. Shouse is complimentary of the rodeo committee. “They have many dedicated men and women who have made it go.”
It is one of four major rodeos in Kansas that weekend, including Dodge City, Phillipsburg, and Hill City, and in part, because of that, attracts world champions and top fifteen contenders.
The rodeo also hosts its annual Tough Enough to Wear Pink night on Friday, July 31, where funds are voluntarily raised for cancer patients through the Elsie Brooks Cancer Fund of Dickinson County.
The annual parade is at 4:00 p.m. on July 30. This year’s theme is Cowboys, Heroes and Legends: Best of the West, and the grand marshal is Geff Dawson.
Dawson, a cowboy poet and Abilene resident, will host the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo July 30-August 1 in Abilene. Top cowboy poets from across the nation will compete at the Greyhound Hall of Fame Conference Center. Events are free to the public.
Rodeo tickets will be on sale online at CKFF.net, at West’s Country Mart in Abilene, at Astra Bank in Chapman, the Short Stop in Clay Center, Barnes Food Store in Herrington, Orschlen Farm and Home in Junction City, and Vanderbilts in Salina. Rodeo tickets are $11 in advance for adults; at the gate, they are $13. For children ages 4-10, tickets are $7.
For more information on the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo, visit the rodeo’s website at WildBillHickokRodeo.com or call the Central Kansas Free Fair office at 785.263.4570.