The Blue Ridge Rodeo: It’s All About the Children

 

The 22nd annual Rodeo was hosted by Blue Ridge Kiwanis Club in Blue Ridge, GA Friday and Saturday night at the Blue Ride Fairgrounds.

Friday and Saturday night brought in a swarm of locals and tourists alike totaling at 2400+ attendees.

The Rodeo brings out the family fun for everyone as they provide booths for people to walk around and visit, donkey rides for children, mechanical bull riding for those that wish to feel like a cowboy and great rodeo food.

Tammy McFarland, Kiwanis Club host explained, “This is really all for and all about the kids. All proceeds we make go back to our children. Each booth and table that is here during the rodeo is sponsored apart from children-centered organizations like the Boy and Girls Club, 4-H club, and Girl Scouts. A lot of funds come through sponsorships and we get to put that right back into our community.”

Between each rodeo event like bareback riding, cattle roping (men), cattle roping (wom en), barrel racing and bull riding there were community-centered activities like the calf scramble.

The children in the audience were invited to play in the calf scramble by two groups between the ages of 7-12. The goal of the game was to bring the tag from the tail of the calf to the rodeo entertainer for the night, Porkchop, also known as Garrett.

There was even a calf scrambling contest for the ladies in the audience but with a more interesting challenge. The winner of women’s calf-scrambling challenge would be the person who brought flag back to Porkchop, not the woman who caught the flag off the calf.

This made for an entertaining game as a ‘flag fight’ broke out in the middle of the arena and resulted in a woman-pile as they each fought for the flag. Eventually, after much laughter from the audience, Porkchop broke up the girl-fight and the ladies walked about to their seats in the audience.

 

In the end, fun was had by all, as teens walked the field with their friends laughing and eating, children pulled on their parents’ hands as they stared wide-eyed at the mechanical bull begging to ride.

All the while, the proceeds from this event go right back into the Fannin community through groups like Fannin County Literacy Action Group, the 4-H Club, Fannin County High School Marching Band, and many, many others.