101 Wild West Rodeo comes a few months earlier

Everyone looked forward to August, as if it was Christmas because that’s when the 101 Wild West Rodeo came in to town. It has been in August for nearly 50 years, but this year Ponca City’s early Christmas has moved even earlier. Rodeo President, Larry Goodno said there are three good reasons the rodeo will now be this weekend.

“One of the big reasons was school starting," Goodno said. "It really makes a difference if school starts, and the target kept changing for us and it’s kind of hard to change the date with the PRCA Rodeo. Cooler weather is why we chose June, and the school starting and to include the cowboys also. They qualify for National finals, and a lot of them by August are either qualified or know they are not going to qualify, so we were having a little trouble getting contestants with all this.”

Goodno said he feels there will be a lot of positive responses and cowboy numbers are already up from previous years.

Despite the move, it will still be the same rodeo. The rodeo events start at 8 p.m. with concerts following at 10. Goodno said one ticket gets you into both the rodeo and concert.

“ They’re $10 advance and $12 at the gate, but we also have $20, you buy it and you get in all three nights, that’s our weekend pass deal," Goodno said.

As always, the Rodeo kicks off Thursday night with a free barbecue. Events will continue Friday and Saturday night.