Riding into town Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25 was the 84th Annual Chickasha Rodeo. This year’s rodeo was preceded by a parade that snaked through Downtown Chickasha beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday and with day one of the rodeo following at 8 p.m. at the Grady County Fairgrounds.

This year’s rodeo was pushed back a day due to a heavy storm that rolled through the area on Friday, June 23, causing the opening day to be on Saturday instead of Friday.

Many spectators gathered to witness the various events of this year’s rodeo in the humid Oklahoma evening. The evening started off with the national anthem and all participants of the evening circling the arena on horseback.

The evening ran out of the corral with the ranch bronc riding. The classic event saw riders attempt to stay on their horses while the horse bucked and tried to throw them off. Rider Gage Phelps won the buckle for this event with 80 points for his ride.

Chasing a calf on his horse and successfully roping it in 9.39 seconds, Briar White won the buckle for the tie-down event. Second place for Saturday’s performance was Colbey Dorsey with a time of 10.90 seconds. Sunday’s performance first place went to place Keil Rowan with 9.77 seconds and second place Drew Parker with a 10.92.

Teaming up together, Bandee Dees and James Panell won the buckle for the double muggin’ event. Saturday’s performance saw first place go to Rhett Weber and Cody Julian, and second place Dees and Cole Rogers. Sunday’s event had no qualified runs.

Even the young children had a chance to get in on the rodeo action with the mutton bustin’ event. Each child competed to see how long they could stay on the lamb as it ran out of the corral. The Saturday buckle winner was Payslee Polson and the Sunday buckle winner was Koda Strickland.

Barrel Racing was divided up into three categories: open barrels, junior barrels, and pewee barrels.

Saturday’s open barrel race first place was Brooke Pipkins, completing the circuit with a time of 16.889 seconds, second place Aspen Sherry with 16.950, third place Dani Looper with 17.140, and fourth place Jacie Etbauer with 17.206.

Sunday’s race first place went to Etbauer with 16.097, second place KK Rule with 16.194, third place Summer Mcauley with 16.348, and fourth place Kyra Lane with 16.393. Etbauer was the buckle winner for this event.

Junior barrels’ Saturday performance first place went to Kreece Pool with a time of 16.766 seconds. Second was Taizley Benefeld with 23.475 and third place Camryn Castrellon with 24.161. Sunday’s performance first place Regan Maddox with 16.543, second place Pool with 16.770, and third place Mesa Payne with 20.321 seconds. Winning the buckle for this event was Pool.

Peewee barrels’ Saturday performance first place was Maddyn Slemp with a time of 20.886 seconds, and second place Brett Hays in 26.808 seconds. Sunday Slemp placed first once more with a time of 20.020 seconds.

The last buckle winning event for the rodeo was the team roping event. On Saturday, first place went to Jordan Fitzgerald and Trigger Hargrove with a time of 4.68 seconds. Second place came Kellen Allison and Cale Morris with 5.41, and third place White and Traden Laur with 7.18 seconds. Sunday performance’s first place went to Hargrove and Trey Harmon with 6.51 seconds, second place Allison and Harmon with 7.08 seconds, and third place White and Lauer with a time of 7.18 seconds. The buckle winners for the event were Hargrove and Fitzgerald.

The bull riding event had no rides that qualified for a placement or buckle.

With so much involvement and competition in the events, the Chickasha Rodeo is an annual event that brings in people from all around the area to witness the various events and cheer on their favorite rider.

Randy Brown, treasurer of the Chickasha Rodeo, has helped organize the rodeo for 23 years.

“I just look around at all the people here and I’m amazed,” Brown said. “Anything to keep this rodeo going and to help the community, we will do it.”

Brown said that much work is put into the preparation of each rodeo. He further said that the Chickasha Rodeo is a non-profit organization, and all proceeds go to fund next year’s rodeo, as well as the trailer for the Rodeo Queen.

Next year, the Chickasha Rodeo will celebrate 85 years of serving the community of Chickasha.

Paul Tointigh is a fourth-year Communication major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.