EP. 40 - Evolving with the Community: Rodeo of the Ozark’s Journey w/ Joe Rollins

In this episode of Crossroad Conversations, the Lewis Brothers engage with Joe Rollins, president of the Rodeo of the Ozarks, discussing the significance of rodeo in the community, its evolution, and the importance of adapting to change. They explore the diverse audience that the rodeo attracts, the improvements made to facilities, and the dynamics of the board that governs the rodeo. The conversation also touches on the challenges faced when shifting the rodeo dates and the importance of community engagement in ensuring the rodeo's success. This conversation explores the rich traditions and community values surrounding the Rodeo of the Ozarks. The speakers discuss the importance of honoring military and first responders, the cultural significance of rodeos, and the various events that engage families and the community. They highlight the behind-the-scenes efforts to care for animals, the entertainment provided, and the vital role of volunteers in making the event successful. The conversation emphasizes the importance of preserving tradition while adapting to modern needs, creating a welcoming atmosphere for all.

Takeaways

Rodeo animals are cared for 24/7 by dedicated cowboys and cowgirls.

The rodeo plays a vital role in the community of Springdale and Northwest Arkansas.

The rodeo has evolved alongside the growing population and diversity of the area.

There are different categories of rodeo attendees, from avid fans to families looking for fun.

Facility improvements have enhanced the audience experience at the rodeo.

Diversity on the board is essential for representing the community's growth.

Shifting the rodeo dates was a challenging but necessary decision.

Community awareness and engagement are crucial for the rodeo's success.

The rodeo offers a family-friendly environment that appeals to all.

The rodeo hosts various events throughout the year, beyond just the main rodeo.  The rodeo serves as a cultural reset, showcasing respect and tradition.

Community engagement is vital for the success of the rodeo.

The rodeo experience is designed for families, offering something for everyone.

Volunteers play a crucial role in the organization and execution of the rodeo.

Caring for rodeo animals is a top priority for participants and organizers.

The rodeo features a variety of events that highlight different skills and entertainment.

Food and atmosphere are key components of the rodeo experience.

Tradition and modernity can coexist in the evolution of the rodeo.

The rodeo fosters a sense of community and belonging.

Engaging local businesses enhances the overall experience of the event.

Feel the dynamic energy of the Lewis Brothers as they deliver real stories and lessons that keep local businesses on their toes, and share how experiences in the community inspire them to keep on driving.

Check out all our great episodes at CrossroadConversationsPodcast.com!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
These are animals who are truly looked after, cared
for 24-7, and rightfully so.
That is what the rodeocompany's purpose is.
That is what these cowboys andcowgirls live for.
It's a shared effort.
If there's ever an issue, takea look at who the first people
to bail off and go assist are.

(00:20):
Those cowboys are going to bethe first ones to go out there
and take care of those animals.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hey everyone, welcome to Crossroad Conversations with
the Lewis Brothers, where weaim to share real stories about
running a successful familybusiness, working through
adversity and pouring back intothe community that keeps our
door open.
We're your hosts, matt Shelbyand Taylor, and we bring you
relevant local business adviceand automotive insights that are
sure to change the way you lookat running a business and maybe

(00:48):
even throw in a plug for you todo business with us.
Welcome to CrossroadConversations with the Lewis
Brothers.
Hey, episode 40, guys.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Number 40.
Episode 40 today.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Today we got a special guest in the house, joe
Rollins.
Joe, welcome to the podcast.
Joe is president of the boardof directors for the Rodeo of
the Ozarks.
And, man, do we have somestories to unpack today about
Rodeo of the Ozarks, ever sincewe could walk to helping out
with the parades, and then justthe integration that the rodeo

(01:19):
has meant not only to the townof Springdale but to Northwest
Arkansas.
I love that it's still in thecenter of this, almost the
center of the city, and they'vekept that heritage there alive
when we're in a boomingNorthwest Arkansas.
So I can't wait to unpack allthose with Joe today.
As we talk about, the Rodeo ofthe Ozarks is coming up in just
a little bit here.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Hey, if you didn't tune in last week, that's okay,
you can go back.
Episode 39, un, your team'spower, the buy-in blueprint.
So we broke down how to getbuy-in, even if it's your idea,
even if it's your forwardthinking, how to get buy-in from
your team to have a seamlesstransition over to new growth.

(02:02):
So that was that was episode 39.
Check that out at crossroadconversations on youtube, on
spotify or however you get youruh podcast.
Also, don't forget, check usout at lewissuperstorecom to
find your next ride, to upgrade,schedule your service or
whatever we can do for you.
Check us out online.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
absolutely, hey, what we drive today.
I've been beating the drumtrying to get these and we
finally got them in.
We all have a car side in us,obviously a heritage of being in
this, so we have a performanceside.
People always ask like, hey,what fast cars do you have?
We just work, I'm sorry.
We just work but that doesn'tmean we don't love fast vehicles
.
So Whipple supercharger, youknow kind of a power adder for

(02:43):
vehicles I was able to finallyget over six months of waiting,
finally got several in stock tobuild our really popular street
performance regular cab truckOver 725 horsepower, four-wheel
drive.
It will absolutely throw youthrough the rear seat.
It is a blast to drive.

(03:04):
But I have two available on theground ready to go.
Side exhaust 22s lowered.
It's pretty lowered.
It's pretty radical, bad to thebone.
Okay, I'm so excited that wehave it back ready to go and
what a fun vehicle to be able totalk about that that's a really
cool vehicle.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
Y'all done a great job putting those packages
together, that they have somewarranty.
Oh yeah, you get highhorsepower.
You get them in a coolconfiguration.
And I noticed in, noticed it'sin the trimmer truck, now it's
the four-door, you know what Imean.
And then did I see it at theexhaust place?
Oh yeah, they're a little bitof exhaust.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
That kind of stemmed from the Raptor R.
That's like the pinnacle of all.
But you're talking $140,000 to$150,000 truck, which is a lot
of money.
We would take 1,000 of them ifwe could get them.
Oh yeah, Because the supply anddemand and what it is.
So we took a Crew Cab Trimmer 5liter and customized it with

(04:00):
wheels and tires and some custompaint and some custom graphics.
So now it's a trimmer r, soit's supercharged 725 for
straight sleep, but it's afour-door so you can haul your
entire family.
You could hook up your horsetrailer to it and get your
horses there a little bit youcould see some value in that,
couldn't you?

Speaker 4 (04:18):
you know?

Speaker 3 (04:19):
sometimes you're a little behind and you know
you've got to get there.
So we've got the the trucks.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Maybe if you're into roping that kind of trades, your
horse on, you know what I meanhow to come out of a game, or if
you're just running late andyou really need to get there
right now.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, that's going to do it.
Yeah, so really excited to havethose in back here.
I have absolutely been clawingtrying to get him back, but got
him back.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
You bet we're excited today to jump in and I know
that's why you all tuned in tooto hear from my friend Joe right
here with Rodeo of the Ozarks.
Joe, we were talking a littlebit off air.
You're originally fromSpringdale, yes, sir.
Okay, so you've been around notonly the rodeo but the Rodeo of
the Ozarks your entire lifehadn't you.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
I'm a byproduct of the system I grew up out there
from my childhood forward, sonow it's kind of that adult
realization that I've seen thismy whole life.
Now I actually get to be a partof help putting it together,
isn't that?

Speaker 2 (05:12):
cool it really is.
You know when you think aboutyou know when you and I go
backwards and we go to hey, whenwe were growing up junior high,
high school, seeing the rodeoaround, it was a lot smaller
population.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
It was.
I mean Northwest Arkansas as awhole was a smaller population
back then.
It really was.
So as you see our region growand I've done a lot of that work
in my day life whenever I don'thave the hat on but as I watch
us grow population diversity, Iwant you to understand all
that's included in what we'redoing out there and we're going
to get a chance to talk throughsome of that.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
I think that's a great point.
Like you said, we'll unpack itas, as it's evolved, the rodeos
evolved too.
Absolutely, you know so.
When you look at the diversity,when you look at who it brings
in and what I love in.
We were talking about this offair is in an area like Northwest
Arkansas, you know we'retalking about.
We were 150, 200,000 peoplethen at most.

(06:03):
Now we're 650, on our way to amillion.
When you do that, you startrunning out of space.
People are trying to buildhouses.
They're trying to buildbusinesses.
You see older businesses orolder homes being bought and
bulldozed down to create moreroom.
The one thing that y'all havedone a fantastic job is
preserving that area of theRodeo of the Ozarks right, and

(06:24):
I'm going to say it's in thecity of Springdale.
Absolutely, you know so.
When you drive by, you see thatand it could have easily been
sold and moved out towardsHudsville or towards Siloam, any
of those areas.
He said no, we're keeping it aspart of the history,
diversifying it to move on.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Think about where we sit.
We are right at theintersection of Emma and 265 on
the east side of Springdale Backthen when the rodeo started and
I believe you said it already1944.
We are 81 years deep into thisrodeo.
Think about what EastSpringdale looked like back then
very agricultural, yeah, itwasn't hard to see row crops,

(07:03):
apple trees, pastures, animals.
As northwest Arkansas grows, alot of that growth is happening,
yes, On the east side ofSpringdale.
It's happening north in BentonCounty.
It's happening to the east ofFayetteville, out toward the
Goshen area.
We're seeing growth by about 30people per day move into the
area right now.
Think about what all of thoseskill sets, what all of that

(07:23):
history is coming with thatgrowth.
Yeah, and a big part of thathere just revolves around
agriculture rodeo a lot of thinkabout, even in our Hispanic
community.
That's growing across theregion.
A lot of the background ofrodeo started with that kind of
heritage.
It really did so.
Truly, we're staying true toour roots, more than a lot of
folks can even talk about.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
I think that's such a great point when you start
thinking about that and you knowthe diversification and staying
true to it is, there's a lot ofpeople that are moving in the
area, that have choices they canmove to.
They can move to Chicago or LAor Dallas or this or that.
And yeah, you might have thebig buildings but you don't have
a rodeo grounds in the middleof town.
Well, so that, and yeah, youmight have the big buildings but

(08:06):
you don't have the rodeogrounds in the middle of town.
So that's unique about our area.
We have trails everywhere.
We've got rodeo grounds, we'vegot not only a sense of
somewhere to work but a sense ofsomewhere to be alive and that
makes it different and veryunique and the rodeo is part of
that.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
That's an overall quality of life kind of
experience.
If you think about where a lotof our growth is coming from,
yes, we're seeing a lot ofgrowth coming here from some of
the states to the west of us,sure, sure, and think about that
heritage they bring with them.
A lot of that stems from rodeoactivities, a lot of that basic
agricultural heritage.
We want to be a place wherethey can call home, a place

(08:39):
where they can find an identityas they move to a new area.
What better place to do thatthan the Rodeo of the Ozarks?

Speaker 2 (08:46):
I think that's great.
Let's unpack a little bit aboutyourself.
We talked a little bit aboutthe rodeo there, but obviously
you grew up in Springdale so youwere going past the rodeo
grounds every single day.
Everybody talked about therodeo.
How did you migrate?
Did you start going to therodeo when you were younger?

Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yes, as you meet a lot of folks that come to our
rodeo, you're going to find twoor three big categories of
people Folks who grew up on afarm, in any form or fashion of
farm.
They just have a love for theanimals, a love for that style
of life Fantastic, we've got alot of things they can do.
Sure, you also have your trueavid rodeo fans who follow it
religiously and they know all ofthe cowboys or cowgirls, they

(09:26):
know all of the names of thebuckling stock that are coming
out of the chutes.
They live it, they breathe it.
We have a big, big outpouringof those kind of folks too, and
then let's talk about asnorthwest arkansas grows we have
another population of folks whoare just looking for something
fun to go do.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
That's new yeah, for the whole family.

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yeah, we have that to offer also.
So if you're not a diehardrodeo fan, don't let that stop
you from coming to see us.
I promise you we've gotsomething for you and the whole
family to enjoy that's.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
That's a pretty cool thing and I'm glad you break
that down.
So the theory of do you want tobe part of the rodeo or do you
want to be part of theexperience, yes, and I say that,
yeah, we were in mont someyears, back in the Big Sky area,
and there happened to be theirversion of a local rodeo going
on at that time and some of thepeople we were with didn't.

(10:16):
You would never catch.
I don't want to say don'tbelong, because everyone belongs
, right, but you would neverthink you would ever catch them
in a rodeo.
But it was entertainment tothem, no different than a play
or a movie or a ball game.
And this is hey, we're goingdown to the rodeo.
And I said you are, and theysaid, oh yeah, they got bull
riding, they got this, they gotthat, something for the whole
family, right, and they were soexcited the next day we were

(10:39):
like, hey, how'd the rodeo go?
And they're like, oh, it wasamazing, they had this and it
sounded just like our radio thatwe know the entertainment.
Every year we've been teamed upand we'll talk about that for a
long time.
We get a good amount of seats,just like we do with any of our
seats to the Razorback Games oranything.
We give them to our employeesand we see tons of people that

(11:00):
didn't grow up on a farm orhadn't been part of the rodeo
community and they come backjust super so excited, like the
experience that you get when youwalk onto that rodeo ground
yeah, well, they take theirfamily, you know we'll put a
pack of five or pack of four orwhatever.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
You know they.
They sit up at the buckle club,they go, they have the dinner,
you know, and then they'resitting there so they watch all
the cowboys, you know, whatever.
They're getting on and goingthrough their pre-game and then
they come back and they've neverbeen exposed to that and
they're like that was amazing.
My kids were so engaged theyweren't on technology, it's just
like, like all these pieces andit's it's so cool that it's

(11:37):
still in the middle ofspringdale and you and everybody
else on the board have justdone a fantastic job keeping up
with the facility, bringing innew entertainment.

Speaker 1 (11:46):
Uh, you know, the best stock, the best cowboys,
the best clowns, all of itBecause it takes all those
pieces, it does, it does, andespecially if we're talking
about a family, just like youmentioned, maybe you don't even
own a pair of boots, no, great.
Yeah, come out and spend anevening with us and I bet we'll
change your.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Yeah, come out and spend an evening with us and I
bet we'll change your yeah bringme to the Fairfax Good night,
bring the family.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
We will have everything from quality rodeo
action.
I promise you we'll have somefood.
That'll be fantastic.
We're going to have humor,we're going to have music, we're
going to have a lot ofbeautiful horses, a lot of ugly,
old cowboys.
But we have you talked aboutfacilities.

(12:28):
We have a brand new set ofoptions for, for your comfort.
Yes, some folks absolutely wantthose buckle club seats looking
right down over the top of thebucking chutes.
You can watch us put thecowboys on the horses, on the
bulls perfect.
We have some folks who justwant a good bird's eye view of
the whole arena.
We've got fantastic coveredseating yep.
And then we've added some newspace over on the east side of
the whole arena.
We've got fantastic coveredseating Yep.
And then we've added some newspace over on the east side of
the stadium.
Well, I saw that last year.

(12:49):
Let's talk about that.
So brand new set of box seatsright along that eastern wall
Okay.
So that's step one.
If you take five steps backbehind you.
Vip covered tent Okay.
High top tables Okay.
If you'd like to have abeverage, we've got that served
under the tent so you don't haveto get up and go stand in the
lines, okay, and again, thingslike fans overhead.

(13:11):
It is June in Arkansas, butagain, the changes that we've
made.
Not a bad seat in the house,sure.
So if you don't want any ofthose options, maybe you prefer
to have lawn seating style seats.
If you go to the amp, if you goof those options, maybe you
prefer to have lawn seatingstyle seats If you go to the AMP
.
If you go see a concert, maybeyou like to be able to mill
around and visit?
Sure, we've got you coveredthere too.

(13:32):
So on the eastern side we havea large patio area.
Walk around and visit, have abig time, sure.
So for any kind of seat thatyou might want, we've got you.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
I think and I've seen that I remember walking around
last year I'm sure you guys toolike, oh man, what are they
doing over there?
You know what to do with thosestands.
And it makes so much more senseif you've got more people who
want to socialize but they stillwant to see what's going on and
they're networking or whatever,or if they want to be in this
action or over there and lookaround.
But that's just my hats off toyou and the board, for you know,

(14:04):
not just saying this is howwe've always done it, We've got
I mean, we talked about that inthe podcast.
You know, in our business wewent through that too.
You know we opened a couple ofyears after you guys in 46, and
it's like, okay, we've got atrack record of success, but is
that going to get us with thecurrent times of where we want
to go?
And y'all have done the samething?
Just because it got you towhere you are now doesn't mean

(14:26):
it's going to get you to whereyou need to go.
It's a bad balance.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
And we talked about this before we started Finding
ways to still honor the heritagethat you came from and continue
to grow, adapt and adjust for adiverse Northwest Arkansas so
that everybody finds a homethere.
And that's the same conceptthat you work with day in and
day out here.
We want to be a place wherepeople can come spend their
evenings and have a great time.
So tell us the story back in.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Was it 2013?
How did they recruit you to beon the board?

Speaker 1 (14:54):
so I grew up around the road.
I was one of those kids whohung around and kind of did odd
jobs.
And you spend enough timearound a rodeo, eventually
they're going to find ways toget your board plugged in.
My guess is, if you spendenough time around a rodeo,
eventually they're going to findways to get you more and more
plugged in.
My guess is, if you spendenough time around the yard here
, they're going to find a way todrive home in a new vehicle.
So it's a similar conversation,but you get comfortable with it

(15:14):
, you grow into it, you learnthat I love being a part of
something that matters to ourcommunity.
Sure, something that bringscommunity partners from all over
the region together.
Yeah, sure, something thatbrings community partners from
all over the region together.
Yeah, for the same purpose oftrying to number one, create a
venue that everybody wants to bea part of and put on a quality
show.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
So but how did you get there?

Speaker 4 (15:37):
There's a story and I'm going to keep peeling the
layer back until we get there?

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Was it your neighbor that knew it, or an uncle?
Or like, hey, we need your helpover here?
And before you know, you had atitle on the board.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
My guess is you can probably relate to this growing
up on a farm, because I did too.
Do you ever get those earlymorning knocks on your bedroom
door from your dad saying it'stime to go to work?
Oh, yeah, on a Saturday, yeah,on every weekend.
So I kind of grew into it.
My so I kind of grew into it.
My father was a part of theboard growing up.
Okay, there we go.
And then I got those.
We got to go.

(16:07):
Time to go to work, yes, sir,all right.
So it kind of became an innatething that that's what you did
in the summer time.
But through my daily work I'mkind of a community connector
and convener.
I try and bring differentresources, different companies
to the table for eithereducation or training things to

(16:28):
that effect.
It's the same conversation inbusiness, same conversation with
the rodeo.
We need people who can draw ourcommunity together.
That's how I was asked to be apart of the board was can you
step out and make newrelationships for the rodeo?
Can you step out in thecommunity and build awareness
about what we do here?
Can you work with our schoolsto create an education so that
people understand it's not justa bunch of cowboys getting on

(16:49):
horses.
There's a whole lot more to itthan that.
That's how I started with theboard, and I started on our
board in 2013.
And here we are, 2025, andthey're not tired of me yet.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
That's 12 plus years.
Yes, sir, that's fantastic.
I know some of the boardmembers you have on there, so I
know this next question you'llbe able to answer pretty easy.
One of the things I reallyrespect that you've done with
the board is the diversificationin different industries and
personalities that are on theboard.
Yes, sir.
So I mean, can you speak tothat a little bit, because I

(17:26):
think that really tells thetruth and the magic behind on
how y'all stayed progressive.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
So there are two different sides to that
conversation.
I think it would apply inbusiness, it would apply on
nonprofit boards.
As your community grows, youneed a representation on that
board that reflects how yourgrowth.
So we have people who are brandnew to our board.
We have people who are brandnew to the area.
For that matter, we also havesome of those I'm going to call
them anchor members of ourcommunity who have been there.
They've seen the growth,they've been in the business

(17:50):
world.
And then you have folks like mewho are hopefully somewhere in
between, who have just enoughrelation in both sides of that
conversation.
You have to make sure that youkeep the balance between that
heritage and that growth.
Sure, so you can respect theevent that you're serving, but
you're also growing with yourcommunity and that's how we
maintain the balance on ourboard.

(18:11):
And sometimes it's easiest forme just to get out of the way
and let the conversations happenand then sometimes I have to
referee, but that's how thatworks how many people on your
and I don't really answer thisquestion, so hopefully you do
how many people on your boardare ex-professional bull riders?
To the best of my knowledge, Ihave zero ex-professional bull

(18:34):
riders on our board, becausethat's a hard life.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
What about on the bareback, on the horse side?

Speaker 1 (18:43):
So we do have some members of our board who have
quite a bit of background insome form or fashion.
Okay, of equestrian lifestyle,of equestrian lifestyle, whether
they're the tame variety or theother, okay, but the love for
the animals is absolutely there.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
So that's my point of order to get to is sometimes
out there, whether in businessor on a board or nonprofit.
We think that we have to havethe actual experts in that field
.
You know so, the ex bull riders, the ex bareback riders, the ex
bull fighters and that's notthe case.
It's the love for the sport orthe activity, and you might be

(19:18):
doing it as a hobby, but thenoutside wise, what can you pull
in to try to get, because you'realways going to have people at
the rodeo that want to be a partand see it.
What can you pull in to try toget, because you're always going
to have people at the rodeothat want to be a part and see
it but have no interest ingetting on that bull Sure.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
So again, the way I see it, three big categories to
that question too.
You have your absolute.
You have to build your grouparound an absolute love for the
event, because it does turn intowork, no matter what.
So you have to love whileyou're there.
But you have to have folks whoare willing to ask questions, to
learn and then to drive itforward.
So those are kind of yourmissing elements.

(19:51):
Start with the love of it, havethe desire to ask the questions
, but make sure that they havethat desire to grow, because
there truly is no standing stillin our business or in yours.
You're either falling behind oryou're getting ahead.
So we have to make sure that wekeep that in the back of our
mind all the time.

(20:11):
Are we growing or are we simplyrepeating history just because
that's the way it's always beendone?
And in this kind of growth youcan't play that game it's so
true, I see.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Okay, it's time for a tougher question.
All right, are you ready?
Yes, sir, because it's gonna bea good one.
We're gonna unpack it, so youcan't give me just a….
We want a plan, sir.
No, we're just going to slowanswers.
All right, here we go.
We've been around the rodeo fora while and we've been around
business and we understandstrong opinions when you're
trying to pivot and make changes.
Now, forever, and I don't knowfor how many years, a long time.

(20:48):
Yes, sir, that shifted five,six, seven years ago probably to
not on the 4th of July weekend,then into June.
Now, I won't give you myopinion on that until you answer
Okay.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
Okay, so I give you from the outside looking in, but
tell me how that conversation,how big a battle was that that
was a battle and, to be honest,there are still members of our
community that are still unawarethat we've shifted those dates.
If they're watching, as much asit disappoints me sometimes, we
have moved our dates.
We're not July 1st so why didyou shift it All right?

(21:21):
So a few compounding reasons.
There are only so many cowboysand cowgirls to spread between
all of the PRCA rodeos.
Okay, if you're familiar withthe sport of rodeo, you've heard
the term cowboy Christmas, andthat directly refers to the
window that we're talking about.
Late June, mid-july.
That is when some of thebiggest rodeos across the
country are taking place.

(21:41):
You can either take a smallportion of the pie or you can
make yourself more available forsome of those quality cowboys
and cowgirls to make your rodeoa priority.
Here we are in Arkansas.
I'm a true Arkansas native.
I love my home.
Yeah, sure, it's not exactlycentral to the rodeo, it's not
correct.
So we had to bend a little bitto make our dates a little more

(22:03):
available to our cowboys andcowgirls.
That was one because we were upagainst some of the largest
rodeos in the country at thatparticular time frame.
They wanted to come, but ifthey've already made one of the
short goes in those other rodeos, their hands are pretty tied.
So we tried to make thatflexible.
Now there are some other issuesgoing on.

(22:24):
That July 4th holiday Rodeo isas patriotic a sport as you will
find.
Sometimes families have travelplans over those 4th of July
holidays?
They do, and if they'retraveling to the lake, if
they're going to the beach, it'shard to be at a rodeo at the
same time.
So we had to make sure that wecould accommodate our fans also
Now.
If you want Joe's personalopinion, I could accommodate our

(22:45):
fans also now, if you want to.
If you want joe's personalopinion, I would love to think
it's a few degrees cooler a fewweeks earlier in the year than
it is over july 4th in northwestarkansas.
So those are some of thereasons, and it all came down to
availability of our cowboys toour, to our fans.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
That's what it came down to but I just have to say
it didn't go that easy.
It did not go that easy.
How many years did y'alldiscuss that on the board before
you at least could get themajority, because I know it
didn't happen unanimously themajority, because we're talking
for everybody listening outthere.
Joe told us that the rodeostarted in 1944.

(23:20):
I bet it was 50, 60 years, thatit was on 4th of July, which
you can't.
And then there's people thathave been on the board for a
while in native spring.
I'm going you better not movethat day.
We still hear that.
Why didn't you move it?
So how long a conversation.
And how did you start gettingpeople on board to go?

(23:40):
Hey, we got to adapt on boardto go on.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
Hey, we got to adapt.
I will tell you that was adrawn out conversation that
probably spanned nearly a decade, of trying to get that simple
act better, because there wasnothing simple about that simple
act.
But you know, a lot of times wefall into the habit of doing
things because that's the waywe've always done it.
That was one of the big thingsthat we were trying to combat
was well, that's just what youdo in Springdale July 1st
through the 4th you go to therodeo.
That's what we used to do inSpringdale, july 1st through 4th

(24:10):
, and then Springdale, northwestArkansas.
We're still seeing the growth,the turnover, the change.
We have people moving heretoday that likely don't know the
rodeo of the Ozarks exists.
We have to make sure that we'regrowing with the times and that
was one of the things that putit over the top with us.
We're not the same NorthwestTargons as we were in 1944.

(24:31):
Yep, we're not the only game intown and we need to be
respectful of that.
So, find a way to positionourselves in the regional
calendar, yeah, so that peoplecan come to the important open
door.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
It's so important of realizing that it wasn't the, it
wasn't always for everyone themost relevant thing on fourth of
july, like if they're out oftown or are, is there someone?
Are you competing against a, awalmart or a?
You know, a huge fireworks showor a weekend at the lake?
Are you competing against that?
So seven year because it wasdown.

(25:06):
So once you did switch over tojune, did you see the results
and the attendance and the salesand the dollars?

Speaker 1 (25:13):
so we did okay but it took a year or two for our
community to fully catch on tothat.
Okay, despite our best prefforts.
Yeah, it took a while for thatto become known.
Okay, and the truth is we stillshift a day or two in either
direction.
Based on that Wednesday,thursday, friday, saturday

(25:33):
lineup in late June yeah, yeah,okay.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
But there's two parts of that to attendance is.
There's first the part of therodeo part, so it's talking
about the riders, cowboys andcowgirls, the stock.
So did you initially see apretty easy shift to get a
higher I don't want to sayhigher qualities, but more
competitive, higher ranking?
You know cowboys and cowgirls,and then the stock as well.

(25:59):
Was it easier then to recruitthat?

Speaker 1 (26:01):
So it was because, again, there are X number of
rodeos going on, x number ofcowboys and cowgirls and that X
number of stock contractors ismuch, much smaller.
One of the things that wereally take to be very proud of
we bring the very best stock inthe game.
So we work with Servi ProRodeos and they are national

(26:27):
qualifying bucking stock everyyear in northwest Arkansas.
You can watch them on any ofthe NFRs.
You can watch on any of thebull ridings that you see across
the country.
You will see that stock here.
I want to make sure that peopleunderstand what a value that is
to a cowboy or to a cowgirl,whenever they see their options,

(26:48):
whenever they see the drawsthat attracts talent to make
them strike itself.
That's going to be the shuttlethat you want to come to.
You want to see that matchup.
You want to see that bull riderand that bull.
You want to see that particularbuck and horse.
Sure, they're going to be hereand that was one of those things
that we really made a point togo get the very best stock

(27:08):
contractors that we could get.
Their availability gave us thatwindow for that late June rodeo
as opposed to that July 1through 4.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
So after the first year and I'm sure you can
remember this vividly after thefirst year of adjusting it to
June and the attendance didn'tskyrocket okay, because this
wasn't an overnight success, sosure.
How was the next meeting?
Did you have half the room togo on?
We've got to go back to July.
That just didn't work.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
I told you it wasn't going to work.
If you ever get more than twopeople together in a
conversation, you're going tohave some of this.
Like I told you, yeah, but staythe course.
There you go Once you make thedecision.
Stay the course.
Build the awareness piece,because in a day and time where
everybody is right here, ifyou're not telling your story

(27:55):
loudly, if you're not pushing itout through all your social
media channels, if you're notputting video content out there
with it, how long does it taketo be forgotten?
Not long at all, not long atall.
People confuse that with are youbragging or are you telling
your stories?
No, I'm building an awarenessright now, because if people
don't know you're there, they'renot going to come see you.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah, that's really good.
So would you say the more likeyear three or four.
Then you started seeing thatgrowth.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
I would say year three was a really good target
year, okay, and it took thatkind of transition period to get
that in Of really good targetyear, okay, and it took that
kind of transition period to getthat.
And, of course, the world in2018, 2019 everybody knows what
that looks like.
Sure, the only time that weweren't able to have a
performance was right during theheat of all of all of our covet
issues on the road stuff.
But then we came right back theyear after.

(28:41):
Our audience was now aware ofwho we were.
They were hungry for an eventto go to because we had all been
in up for a year, and that kindof set the new stage for where
are we going?
As a rodeo, that laid thefoundation for facility
improvements.
Now people are much morefamiliar with what we have to
offer.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
I think that and I hope everybody out there
listening grasp a hold of that.
Yeah, we're going to have funtalking about rodeo today and
all the fun stuff around it, butthere's a business aspect to it
is when you are willing andhave the courage to adjust
something that's been around fordecades on decades, it
overnight success is not goingto happen there.
You got to stay in the course,you got to let compounding

(29:24):
happen and if you'll keeppushing forward, you'll keep
what you have as relevant andyou and you'll keep growing that
as well.
So my hat's off off to you guysfor doing that.
All right, we got to jump intoa couple uh fun questions here,
so don't answer out loud, okay,let's get back to it.
Okay, even though I love thisevent, our uh our director kind
of seems put this on here.

(29:45):
He said what animal is used inthe event?
Mutton Busting.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Okay.
So you tell us what's MuttonBusting Without telling us what
we're riding, Without tellingyou what we're doing.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
Mutton Busting Okay, one of my favorite events in the
rodeo.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
It's a good one.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
It happens before the rodeo actually starts and we'll
bring about 40 to 50 7 to 9year olds out into the rodeo
arena and we will put them onblank livestock.
That's their version of a bullride.
It is so fun to watch, thenwe'll bring the top 4 or 5 rides

(30:23):
of the night back during therodeo.
I'm not sure if people cheerlouder for a great ride in the
mutton buster or if they cheerfor a great ride in the bull
riding.

Speaker 3 (30:34):
I think it's the mutton buster and I like the
trophies they get.
The trophies are bigger thanthe cans.
They're taller than they are.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
I love it I love it.

Speaker 4 (30:52):
To watch them try and carry those trophies out of the
arena at the end of the week.
It's fantastic.
I'd love to see one ride good,but even more because I got boys
.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
I love to see one just get like holding on, just
get drunk.
They don't even let go and theyjust hammer because we've all
been there, because we, we kindof grew up doing that on our
farm.
Uh, so what, man?
What's our four options?

Speaker 2 (31:03):
our four options and we'll come back.
So don't answer During muttonbusting.
Are you riding a goat, a sheep,a pig?
I'm going to say the first ofall, three of those we've
probably ridden, or the last isa chicken Chicken.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
We haven't ridden the chicken.
Maybe Dale's down in Mexicofinding those big chickens.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
We've, maybe chased the chickens.
I'm not sure where you findthose, but I will see he's going
to find them.

Speaker 3 (31:32):
Oh man, that's good.

Speaker 4 (31:35):
Well, rolling into the next thing there, the
importance of communityconnections in a business.
You know, rolling straight intothis, Joe, what makes a good
business connection to thecommunity?
Well, I'm going to tell you.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
The rodeo of the Ozarks does not happen without
community connections.
Obviously, we're sitting heretoday and you've been a partner
with us longer than I canremember Publicly.
I want to say thank you for itbecause I hope you'll bring one
of those new super trucks to therodeo and let people take a
look at it.
I want to look at my trailertoo.
I'll do a toe test.

(32:07):
But think about, as we talkabout that same diversity across
the region.
Think about the diversity ofbusiness that all of our fan
base represents.
People want to go somewherewhere they have a little piece
of that.
My business is a part of this.
There's my sign, there's myflag, there's my banner, there's

(32:27):
my sign on the website.
Oh, the announcer justmentioned my business name.
We're going to have thousandsof people both from Northwest
Arkansas and abroad in thatstadium all four nights In the
game of awareness.
That's a fantastic tool to beable to have your name, your
sign, your logo, your equipmentseen, tool to be able to have

(32:49):
your name, your sign, your logo,your equipment seen, because
you have an audience thatalready gravitates toward your
product, toward that style oflife.
That's a fish in a barrel kindof scenario and you have that.
Audio video, physical displays,name recognition, parades with
flags.
There's a way to get your namein front of a community.
But at the core of thatconversation, we can't put on an

(33:11):
event without that kind ofsupport.
The rodeo started again 1944.
Think about what was going onin the world in 1944.
yeah, end of world war ii andwalking right into a very
economically depressed time inour nation.
Our community needed somethingto do.
They needed something to breakthat cycle, that mindset of here

(33:33):
are the worlds at war.
It's a hard time and place.
That's where the rodeo startedfrom.
It was a community engagementpiece.
It was a business engagementpiece.
It was an economic developmentpiece.
Well, that was 1944.
Think about, here we are, 81years later.
Our region's still growing interms of diversity, still have
families who need something toget out and do.

(33:55):
That's candidly family friendly.
That you don't have to worryabout bringing your kids to
Seattle that still tips our hat,no pun intended, to our
heritage, but it's still forwardthinking enough that we have
something there for everybody.
Now, if your business wants tobe a part of that conversation,
that's where you need to be seen.
It's a real easy conversation.

(34:16):
Can you be a part of what we'redoing out here?
You don't have to spend thismuch money to sponsor an event.
There are ways to play at thismuch and this much in this much.
That's the same conversationthat you can have with community
engagement right here or in anybusiness development plan.
Find a way for someone toengage that fits their ability

(34:36):
and then maximize their exposurefor it.

Speaker 4 (34:39):
I love that and definitely you've taken that
piece of really your wholeinvolvement in the community to
be able to then include otherbusiness owners and say, hey, I
want you to be a part of oursuccess, which then helps us be
more successful, obviously,because you're pouring back into
us, can be part of the family,absolutely.
But I love that because youknow that in turn makes a

(35:01):
business owner that sponsoredyour event come out with their
family, their employees and thenbe proud to say, hey, we're a
part of this heritage and itbuilds a network.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Come do business with us.
We're going to, in turn, notonly promote your business,
we're going to continue to dobusiness with you and tell that
story.
Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
From a sponsor wise, I'll just have to say this is we
never have question aboutsponsoring the rodeo and from
this point of view is we knowthat the rodeo is going to be
neutral on politics.
You know what I mean.
We know that the rodeo is goingto be neutral on race, all of
those type things that, as abusiness sponsoring could back

(35:42):
us into a corner, because wesell to all types and all people
and then, from a spectator tocome, I don't have to worry
about bringing my kids there andsomething being said or done
that's wrong, that I don't wantto expose them to.
That's correct, you know, Imean.
So from that point, from abusiness and from a family,
y'all just do a fantastic jobpreserving that.

Speaker 4 (36:02):
Yeah, it's definitely been something that over the
years that I love and can attestto that the sport of rodeo is
just always that heritage, it'sgrounded, that does provide a
great show, but always loveseeing people come back to it
that have never once seen it,and it's a great atmosphere to

(36:23):
be able to bring them in too.
So that's been huge there.
So talking big aboutconnections, and we've talked a
whole lot about what you bringthem in too.
So that's been huge there.
So talking big aboutconnections, and we've talked a
whole lot about what you've donein this.
But I love this because this isanother side of it, a business
side what other?
So is it only rodeo or do y'alldo other events throughout the
year?

Speaker 1 (36:40):
So obviously rodeo is our big big event.
If you go back two weeks ago avery non-rodeo event but
something for the whole familywe had a demolition derby inside
of our arena.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
I mean, here I am at a town with car gas.
Let's go to the gospel.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
Now your body shop would probably really benefit,
because they probably need tosend them to you, but we had a
sell-out crowd for a demolitionderby, right here in northwest
Arkansas.
That's cool and again,family-friendly environment,
something that we had kids outthere.
Bring your muffs, but we hadkids out there.
We had adults out there, we hadfolks who had been there for
years and we had folks who hadbeen there for the first time

(37:19):
and they all left smiling andsaying, when are we doing
another one?
And the answer is we're goingto do another one in the fall.
But we also do.
There's a carnival set up on ourgrounds right now.
It'll be there for the nextcouple of weeks leading up to
rodeo time.
We have, if you're just a bullriding fan, we have BBR events

(37:41):
at the rodeo Bull fightingevents, if you really want to
watch the clowns, get out thereand do their work, events
dedicated just to that.
If you're into parades, we haveone of those.
That will be on Wednesdaymorning, the first day of the
rodeo this year.
We have Christmas parades.
At the holidays.
We do scholarship programs forlocal kids.
We have multicultural heritageevents across the span of the

(38:05):
calendar year During the rodeo.
This year we will have aHispanic Heritage Night.
We will have a Tough Enough toWear Blunt Night Saluting those
who have endured that fight withcancer and keep on pushing.
We will have some specialevents there, called Rope your
Dreams, where we work with alocal young man or woman who are

(38:25):
going through some issues oftheir own and try and support
them in that process.
And then I know that I'llforget one of our nights, but
each night has a theme tied toit.
Yes, that is just that.
Oh, I'm sorry, it'll be asalute to all of our um, the
service agencies across theregion, all of our military,

(38:46):
first responders, policeofficers.
Yeah, just as a tip of our hat,thank you for what you do for
us.

Speaker 3 (38:53):
One thing that I love when I go to the rodeo and this
is one-sided and politicky, notreally politicky, but I love
when I go to the rodeo that it'sjust so classic, it's so
classic Always the nationalanthem.
That is just so classic, it'sso classic, it takes you back
Right.
Always the national anthem.
I love that.
And there's always abig-hearted, colorful prayer yes

(39:15):
, sir, that I love.
That is so like.
Hey, we understand you mighthave differences or feelings,
but we're going to go ahead andpray over these cowboys.
And there's always a salute anynight that I've been to any
military active retired uh, justthe classics of what america

(39:35):
was built on and what the rodeowas built on.
I love that.
There's great respect in therodeo.
There's good manners in therodeo.
The things we were raised onprobably you were raised on uh,
people take care of their animal.
The good things of what ourcountry was founded on.
I love that about the rip radio.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
It's funny you say that because we all know that
we've grown around it.
But it's fun to take friendsthat have never been to it and
just to sit back and see,because it's like this reset and
this breath of fresh air oflike whatever's going on in the
world out there.
Here's how you can be highlycompetitive, have a lot of honor

(40:18):
for what you do, yet berespectful.
You know what I mean and what'sright's right and what we
should stand up for.
We stand up for, no matter whatthe rest of the world's saying.
So it's fun taking somebodythere that's never been to a
rodeo before.
It's an experience.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
The fact that you brought that up and I didn't
have to, tells me that we'repushing that culture, that code,
that moral code.
That means more to me than therest of it.
If we can provide that examplefor families to bring their kids
to for the next two hours, wewant you to come be a part of
this culture.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Yes, that's a win.
That is a win, it is.
It is Especially when the restof society is telling you not to
do that.
That's right.
So my hat's off to you,especially as we talk about
adapting.

Speaker 3 (40:59):
You can adapt without getting away from roots,
Absolutely and like what makesit so good.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
You know the parade.
I'm going to tell you about theparade here.
You know, because we'reinvolved in the parade.
You know whether it'sconvertible, the Queens riding
in, or you know we've had somevehicles too that shuttle people
around, and I'll tell you astory about one, and this is
years and years ago.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
OK, I didn't do it.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
There's no hard feelings about it, no hard
feelings.
Okay, I didn't do it.
Okay, there's no hard feelingsabout it, no hard feelings.
But one year, um, we werehonored to get a signature from
one of the horses, okay, andthis, uh, this dodge grand
caravan came back, okay, fromthe parade and it had two
perfect u's in the side of thedoor and a horse had donkey

(41:48):
kicked the side of it and youcould see the shoes in it and
it's just, you know, it's one ofthose things like, ok, hey, we
understand that's part of theresponsibility around animals
and the cars, but it was just,it's just a fun thing to chuckle
about.
Like that's, that's what it is.
Again, I'm not holding thatover your head, but I was like
dang's what it is.

(42:08):
Again, I'm not holding thatover your head, but I was like
dang, you can actually see theshoes.
I mean, that's all you do.
I hope you kept the door panelin.
That'd be a great thing toframe and put on.
Yeah, Proud sponsor of theradio, Proud sponsor.
We love rodeo but you still gotexposure and you still got fun.

(42:37):
Y'all did a great job.
Just encompassing that wholeweek all things rodeo.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
And again it comes back to at what level can you
engage with us?
Some folks can show up to aparade.
You can see some beautifulhorses.
We'll have bands marching,playing their music.
You'll see floats Probably tossa few lollipops and pieces of
candy off the floats, and ifthat's all that, you can be a
part of great.
Come be a part of that with us.
This year there will beeverything from a parade that

(43:05):
morning there will be a pancakebreakfast downtown Springdale,
something for everybody to comegather around and watch the show
as it comes by.
Yep, if you can come, be a partof the rodeo itself with us,
again, we're there June 25ththrough the 28th.
Find a night that works for you, I can tell you you don't need
to worry about which night youcome to.
It's going to be a great show.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Something for everybody there.
I'll tell you another part ofit too and we've just been
honored to be a part of it isthe years that it works out.
We have a bull here, big Johnusually is on the couch, big
John and then maybe a couple ofthe Cowboys or the Rodeo Clowns
will come and they'll sign.
And I can just tell you that mykids have gotten stuff signed.

(43:49):
They got boots signed and hatssigned and you know, and their
picture you know, on the bowl.
So that's another fun way thatwe get to incorporate that in
our local business to bring youall awareness yet help drive
traffic to us, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
See, you need the collection now.
It's an annual thing.
You can watch the progressionof your kids grow up from year
to year to year.
You can watch the progressionof your kids grow up from year
to year to year.
You can watch Big John grow ingray hairs from year to year,
but again that's trying to bringsomething new even out here.
How many car dealers would bewilling to let a bull stand
right in the middle of theirbrand-new trucks?

Speaker 4 (44:22):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (44:23):
And there's some trust there, with the exception
of one set of a prince on a, ona door.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
That's not bad, uh, that's good stuff that's growing
and I love you talking aboutthat.
The boys now growing up theynotice things like that and they
grow my favorite always growingup because he was funny before
any of the other, but good,liesel harris, it was the
funniest and he was funny beforeany of the other, but good,
liesl Harris, it was thefunniest and he was with his

(44:51):
shotguns and everything else hewould come out with.
He was always accompanied withprobably your favorite, the good
one-armed bandit.
He would ride his horse up ontop of the trailer.
So I love hearing stories ofanyone that's grown up around it
over the years and seeing allof those people come through and
the tribute to Liesel.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
Yes, most of your comedic acts that now tour
within different strings ofradio, they still pay tribute
back to a lot of his acts.
You'll still hear little bittyinflections of some of his old
stories, his old jokes, andthat's not copying material.
No, that's paying tribute towhere they came from.
It is yeah, yeah.
And you know, thinking back tosome of the foundation names

(45:32):
that have come through our rodeo, whether they were cowboys,
cowgirls, specialty acts, we'vehad some of the industries best,
best, and we continue to tryand seek those out as new acts
come forward.
The cool part is they rememberthat same heritage and they
still pay homage to it.
That's great.

Speaker 2 (45:48):
That's great.
I'll tell you.
The other thing that has passedthe past time and it continues
to be relevant is hopefully Isay this right but the, the
kid's toy, the Weezer, andthat's what it's called.
I think we've all bought two orthree.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
I can remember as a kid going.
I hope it lands.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
It never goes in the bugging.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
I just remember growing up as a kid I thought I
could go out there and justthrow that thing, the same way
that they did it?

Speaker 2 (46:14):
How did they do?

Speaker 1 (46:14):
that I'd throw it and have to go get it.
See, I still think we need oneof those t-shirt cannons.
It looks like an old doublebarrel shotgun that shoots to
him and says, no, we've got tomake that happen.
We haven't done that yet.
Oh, that's good.

Speaker 4 (46:32):
Hey, diving back into what animals use in the mud and
busting, I'm going to go aheadand take chicken off.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
Not a chicken, we would be like an ostrich, that
would be pretty wild.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
But going into goat, sheep, pig, I'm taking chicken
off.
So you've got a one of threeoption there.
You want me to pick?
Yeah, you pick which one.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
It's got to be sheep, and that's what the answer is
yeah it is.
You know, growing up we had afew of those.
Now we might have dismountedthe horse to get the sheep.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
That was our.
We never actually rodeoed.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
That was our internal rodeo.
We showed horses the bull, weshowed horses.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
It's a bulldogger.
You didn't know it, yeah that'swhat we would do.

Speaker 3 (47:10):
So we might have jumped off some horses onto some
sheep, but even more we wouldtie things to the sheep and let
them pull us.
But animals are pretty smartand our sheep didn't get cheered
as much as they should.
That was at a flat top, andtheir flat top came from getting
away from other things by goingunder our cable rail fence, and
their flat top came fromgetting away from other things
by going under our cable railfence, and so then, when we

(47:31):
would ride them or try to cause,our dad taught us how to play
football using the sheet.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
You know being the guy who just had to hold those
sheet for years.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
if you can block one of those, it's like a Mr Miyagi
thing, you know, so that wasdad's way, and you had to get
all four legs wrapped up to takehim down.

Speaker 1 (47:54):
Get a stoop and dunk him.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
Yeah, and so we would practice.
Mom did not like that right.
So we would get a hold of thesheep and it would go straight
for a fence because it couldtake its hair off and us.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
There's not much stopping one of those things
whenever they decide they wantto go somewhere.
So it makes sense.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
The mutton busting is the sheep right.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
You don't need any head-butted kids with a and the
good news is they've gotsomething soft and fluffy to
hold on to.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
Oh yeah, a sidebar story, side velcro really on the
sheep?
We probably didn't.
But one year we had PrairieGrove Ag came out, you know, and
they were using class study forshearing sheep and one of them
they sheared it about halfwaythrough.
They hit a fishing lure.
It had got in.
Now one of it wasn't stuck inthe skin of the sheep but in the

(48:40):
wool.

Speaker 4 (48:40):
It was just in the wool.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
In the wool.
It was a rattler trap.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
It's like, Mrs Lewis, do you know what it is like?
These three, these three right?
Are you going to blame that onhim?

Speaker 2 (48:53):
Yeah, we did talk about the pig.
We had this really big pig thatwe would ride when we were
young.
Let's get for the audience.
There's no mutton blessing ageright when we were really young,
and the way that the pig wouldthrow us off is it could drop
its front legs.
Yeah, so I think you're goingfast.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
Yeah, so then they could go on fast and whoop.
Yeah, you think these pooranimals, peta, just keep to
yourself.

Speaker 4 (49:14):
These animals know exactly what they're going to do
with.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
As a matter of fact, I found Taylor one time in a
horse stall.
The rain for me and the sheephad him pinned.
You're ramming the fire out ofhim, giving him back a weed.
The males are pretty awesome.
You're just and the fire out ofhim giving back a weed.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
The males are pretty awesome.
Just stomping that foot at you,yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:31):
And we love these things.
We took such great care of them, just in case you're concerned.
So, mutton busting is the sheep.
It's a lot of fun.
Let's get back on track.
So, joe, I want you to walk us.
Hey, just a quick plug on that.

Speaker 4 (49:43):
Yeah, you don't have to be because the best ones that
go out there, you don't have tobe anything rodeo history to do
the button bus?

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Not at all.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
The less rodeo the better, like get out there put a
helmet on and turn them loose.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
While we're talking about the event, I do need to
say, if you're watching, if youhave kids, that you would like
to participate.
We're taking names right now.
Registration is open.
So how do they register?
So they can either call ouroffice, which is 479-756-0464,
or they can register online atrodeooftheozarksorg.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
so if you've got somebody with ages, yes, I want
to make sure I said this rightand I believe I said it
incorrectly earlier.
I believe it's 5 to 7.

Speaker 3 (50:25):
5 to 7.
Okay, somewhere in 5 to 7-ishCall up and get registered.
Yeah, he's getting the call,let's get him over there.
So, help us.
Now let's talk Week of theRodeo.
Yes, sir, okay, week of theRodeo.
You said the dates were June25th, 2028.
Okay, and what days are those?
That's Wednesday throughSaturday.
Wednesday through Saturday.
We move June, june's good.

(50:47):
We get better talent, betterparticipation.
So, night one well, sorry, yousaid first is the parade,
correct, and that's on thatWednesday.
That's going to be on thatWednesday morning at 10 o'clock.
Okay, so then the first rodeotakes place that night, correct?
So how does the rodeo start?
Walk us through surface levelof the events.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
Great.
So that Wednesday night, that'sone of those theme nights,
that's our faith and familynight.
Okay.
So there will be music, therewill be a strong, strong family
influence on Wednesday night.
Okay, bring your kids.
Okay, it's going to be a great,faith-filled beginning to the
rodeo.
Okay, then we will open thegates, we'll do our grand entry

(51:28):
and we will start rodeo actionat 7 o'clock.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
Okay, and grand entry .
If you've never been to rodeo,what does that look like?

Speaker 1 (51:35):
That's where all of the cowboys and cowgirls maybe
they need a little bit of awarm-up they get to ride through
.
You get to see the board ofdirectors hopefully stay on the
top side of the horse.
All right, top side of thehorse, that's one of those
things that we really hope for.
But that's kind of thepageantry, Some of the history
of where that rodeo came from.
You'll see our rodeo queens.
You'll see our sponsor flagscome through.
The American flag will lead usthrough every night Again, very

(52:00):
prayerful, very patriotic.
That is near and dear to theheart of Rivian.
A horse of every size.
A horse of every size, shape,color.
You might even see we've had anoccasional Longhorn be ridden
through the Grand Entry.

Speaker 2 (52:13):
Yes, donkey, a good gated mule comes through.

Speaker 1 (52:15):
Love it.
If you want to see an extraparade, you can almost think of
our Grand Entry as that secondparade.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
That you get yeah.
A little action everyone'swatching.
A little mud busting, then alittle Grand Entry and then what
events will we see busing then?

Speaker 1 (52:29):
a little grand entry.
And then what events will wesee?
Sure, so our rodeo has theclassic eight events.
Okay, Okay, and if I miss onethen I'll just have to circle
back.
That's okay.
We won't know Everything frombareback, saddlebro, calf roping
, team roping, this year we'veactually.
Last year we added in women'sbreakaway roping.
I remember seeing that A reallygrowing sport.
Women's breakaway roping, areally growing sport, our
classic barrel racing, steerwrestling, bull riding and all

(52:53):
of the specialty acts that go inbetween.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
So specialty acts, we're talking about
entertainment.
One thing I do need to ask,because my uncle always asks the
guy with the dogs, with themonkeys on the back are their
hands glued to the saddle?

Speaker 1 (53:12):
They are not.
Are they are actually holdingon riding for dear life?

Speaker 3 (53:14):
that's what he always said, because they are going so
fast and uncle tommy would saythey gotta glue those things on
there right just better cowboysthan the rest they are good.
So that's one of manyentertainments.
They'll be the guy that's uh,and you don't have to tell us,
but that's ridden his horse upand over the truck and onto the
trailer and then the wagon andthe new version of the Liesel

(53:38):
Harris and the clowns.
The entertainment's amazing.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
We really try and find those specialty contract
packs to bring in for thatentertainment drive.
And again, depending on theyear, it could be anything from
cowboy monkeys, it could behorses, it could be buffaloes,
it could be mountain sheep, itcould be putting them up on a
trailer, it could be.
Last year we had a gentlemanwho, one of the most specialized

(54:02):
animal trainers in our industry, was here.
I have to keep that one secretso that you can come see yeah
yeah, yeah, I love that, and sothe entertainment is so good.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
So the entertainment goes the eight different
disciplines, but then there'smore.
So, like you should probably bethere early because around the
grounds, yes, walk us through ofwhat people can see or buy or
taste, so our gates open at 530.

Speaker 1 (54:32):
Okay, 530 every night .
Come through, sample some of.
Take your expectations for thebest carnival atmosphere food
that you can walk through now,elevated to cowboy standards.
Okay, cowboys are known fortheir appetite.
They like to eat, and so dorodeo fans.
So we want to make sure that wehave a great selection of food
options for you.
Okay, we have some vendors whoare there doing, so we want to
make sure that we have a greatselection of food options for

(54:52):
you.
We have some vendors who arethere doing everything from hats
, t-shirts, belts, saddles tech.

Speaker 3 (54:57):
Come be a part of that experience.
That's fun and we've done thatas kids.
I remember that we run thegreen entry and got to see it
all and be a part of it all.
But now taking our boys throughit.
We laughed about this beforeand joe was like man, where's
your cowboy hat?
And I was like man, apologies,left in my closet.

(55:17):
I've got my work hat on, but uh, our boys every year have to
get a new collection.
Like boys, you got a hat lastyear, didn't you?

Speaker 1 (55:21):
so you can get that there right absolutely you can
come get your hat you can, ropes, hats, toys, trinkets, pony
rides, all while holding yourkettle, corn and two foot long
corn.

Speaker 4 (55:33):
Yes, sir, and I like the lemonade.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
You can find anything fried almost, and a fresh fried
corn belt's a pretty good pick.

Speaker 3 (55:39):
The funnel cakes.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
I think they just keep adding stuff to those
funnel cakes A funnel cake thatfills your plate and then goes
vertical.
Can we just get buckets?

Speaker 3 (55:49):
to carry those in.
We can do that.
Yeah, instant powdered sugarLike you imagine.
You get in those seats and thefamily comes back in between an
event and you've just got thisthing and somehow always got a
dark-colored shirt Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
And like a bucket of lemonade.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a bucket and the wind will
come and you'll just be coveredin powdered sugar.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
And they'll come and you'll just be covered in
powdered sugar and chocolate andthen you're standing up and
going throw me the.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
Weezer, and then the person in front of you is
wearing your powdered sugar.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
Hey, watch this cowboy right here.

Speaker 3 (56:15):
Do you do, and if you don't, I didn't like it, but if
you do it's great Do you stilldo fireworks?
So this year we don't havefireworks.
I didn't like those oh youdidn't like those that I'm
joking.
We try and kind of alternatethem.
Alternate Okay, so that's anevent sometimes that would
happen there.
Man, I'm trying to think of anyother events or things that are

(56:37):
part of it.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Well, and also too and I might be diving into
something here, but y'all at thedinner too.
If you're in the buckle clubs,you got to start barbecues.

Speaker 1 (56:46):
So that's all part of it as well.
You can get the meal plus airconditioning.
That's always a great thingbefore a rodeo.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
Before you just start sweating, you get those thick
jeans on and long sleeves.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
Whenever we moved it forward a couple of weeks into
June.
Hopefully it's a few degreescooler.
Anyway, the humidity is notquite so high.

Speaker 3 (57:02):
And there's covering and there's some fans, you know.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
That's the other thing our uncle asked about is.
He'll ask him what's randomquestions, but we'll be going
over.
Hey, we've got our tickets forthe rodeo this year.
He's like did you get the menuyet?
What are they serving?

Speaker 3 (57:14):
I don't know he likes to pick his night based on the
the the buckle club.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
So let him pick first , and then we filter it, cause
you alternate those nights.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
We do, and I can tell you I had a hand in selecting
this year's menu and I didn'tget this big by accident.
I like quality food and,without throwing specific
restaurant names out there, Ican tell you this year we have
everything from we have acatfish night, we have a fajita
night, we have a couple ofbarbecue nights and a steak
night also.
So it's going to be pretty good, pretty good food in the Buckle
Club area for sure you can tell.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
you know whether we were just talking about the food
there or we were talking aboutfaith or tradition.
You have so much pride inpreserving the rodeo, the Ozark
ship, making it progressive.
There's not many people that werun into that can
simultaneously do both of those.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
That's something that our board has just absolutely
dedicated their train of thoughtto is maintain where we came
from, appreciate where we'regoing to grow with our
population, but those are thingsthat we keep near and dear as
we make these growth decisions.
So thank you for seeing that.

Speaker 3 (58:22):
That's solid.
How many people are on theboard so?

Speaker 1 (58:26):
we have a 13-member board.
Right now we have 11 members onour board.
We had a couple folks who, uh,life happened, they needed to,
needed to take care of life fora while, so I love that.
That's another chance for thatbusiness engagement piece, as we
talk about businesses whoreally want to be a part of what
you're doing.
That's, those are ways to get.
That's all right.

Speaker 3 (58:44):
So super big week, a lot going on, and I say week
because that's the focal point.
You've got a whole year ofstuff.
How many people do you think of?
Volunteers and helpers, andcowboys, cowgirls, how many
hands do you think are in that?

Speaker 1 (58:57):
So again, an event like ours doesn't happen without
corporate engagement.
It certainly doesn't happenwithout volunteers, and it is
hard to provide enough.
Thank yous to all of the peoplewho are out there, giving their
time, their energy, their lovefor the sport to our running.
We've met over 100 volunteersthat show up to do everything

(59:18):
from ushering ticket taking.
They help behind the sceneswith the livestock.
It's.
It's a huge thank you toeverybody who's plugged in there
.
And the truth is, I don't carehow big or how small your event
is, you can't have enoughvolunteers.
So if anybody is watching thisand they'd love to be a part of
that effort, find ways toconnect with us.

(59:40):
We will find something that youcan do with your talents to be
a part of what we're doing.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
I think that I know you said the phone number
earlier, but whether it's thewebsite or the phone number,
y'all got a great website forpeople to get involved there.
Now, if somebody out there islistening and they're like you
know what?
I should take my family to therodeo this year and like I don't
have tickets I heard those guystalking about tickets, this and
that Can they still get tickets?
Can you get tickets?
The walk me through the process.
If we're like, hey, we've gotan opening this Thursday and

(01:00:08):
it's Thursday morning and I wantto take my family, what do I do
?

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
See, you can do it a few ways.
I hope you'll buy them inadvance so that there's no
last-minute stress trying to getthrough the gates.
So there are a couple ways todo it.
You can call our office andagain I'll rattle that number
off again, if you'd like, goahead 479-575-60464.
They can call us anytime.
We have a staff there who canwalk you through all of our

(01:00:31):
different seating options.
Make sure you get the rightplace.
If you'd like to look online,you can get a digital bird's eye
view of where your seat is andyou can point and click which
seat you want in the stadium andyou can see what your vantage
point's going to look like.

Speaker 3 (01:00:47):
So you can do that at rodeotheozarksorg
Rodeozearksorg Can they walk upon the day of and buy tickets.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
So that's the third option and yes, we have people
that do that every night.
If you get a last minute, hey,let's go to the rodeo and kind
of hitch, we've got a box officeright there that can take care
of you.
We've got ticket windows thatcan help you get situated.
Don't let last minute decisionsdeter you from coming to see us
.

Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
I love that.
It's good.
What's the attendanceavailability?
How many people could be ableto it's?

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
capacity.
Not unrealistic to see6,000-7,000 people per night.

Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
Okay, Frequently asked questions.
This is our favorite part ofjust randomness or goodness or
sometimes great nuggets.
What is a frequent questionthat you get all the time about
the rodeo?
Are they hurting the?

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
animals?
The answer is no, okay, they'renot.
You will not find anyone whowants to take better care of
that livestock than those peoplewho are out there with their
lives depending on that stock.
For for folks who simply justdon't have a background or an
experience with rodeo animals,yeah, most of them live a far

(01:01:58):
cushier life than any of ourhorses at all, yeah, and they
were truly bred, raised andtaken from venue to venue for
this purpose, with With thatintention, okay.
So if you were to talk abouthigh dollar animals who are
living their best life, come seewhat they do.

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
They might get wrestled a little bit here and
there, ridden here and there,but that's what they're made for
.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
I think that's a great point and like you don't
really see that unless you seethe behind the scenes of those
animals live a better life andare better cared for.
Great point and like you don'treally see that unless you see
the behind the scenes of thoseanimals live a better life and
are better cared for than just ahorse or a cow or a farm animal
just out of the pasture theseare animals who are truly looked
after, cared for 24 salad, andrightfully so.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
Yeah, that that is what the rodeo company's purpose
is.
That is what these cowboys andcowgirls live for.
It's a shared effort.
If there's ever an issue, takea look at who the first people
to bail off and go assist are.
Those cowboys are going to bethe first ones to go out there
and take care of those animals.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
That's a great point, all right, so I've got another
one for you.
What is something that happensbehind the scenes that the
public never really sees, but ispivotal to make sure that the
event goes on?

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
successfully.
So you touched on it earlier.
When you talk about volunteersthe heart of our volunteer base
they're out there weeks beforethe rodeo.
They're everything from groundsmaintenance to working with the
stock as they come in.
They're setting up communityevents.
Whenever we're here with ourbulls, you'll see some of our
volunteers.
You'll see some of our ownorganized riding group, the

(01:03:39):
rounders.
You'll see them here.
They tour all around the areagoing to rodeos, building that
awareness about the rodeo theOzarks.
What people don't see are theman hours about the rodeo the
ozarks.
What people don't see are theman hours, the man and the woman
hours forgive me that go intobuilding not only an awareness
for the event but making ithappen those four nights of
rodeo.
There's a small army of folkswho are out there, some doing

(01:04:02):
what they're capable of and somegiving up weeks of vacation
time to be out there to makethat event happen, and I hope we
can continue to grow that kindof volunteer base.

Speaker 2 (01:04:12):
And that's that's.
That's great man.
It's been a whole lot of fun.
Any other shout out that youwant to do for people to be able
to get in contact with you guys?
I know they've given the phonenumber.
You know we've talked about the, about the location you know,
right there in Springdale theycan show up day of.
We highly encourage you to getyour ticket before then so you
can plan Well let's close itthis way.

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
We couldn't do this without you, guys.
We couldn't do this withoutLewis Automotive, without their
family of groups, without theirfamily of dealerships being
there.
If you're looking for a greatvehicle, let me give you a plug
Come out to the rodeo of theOzarks.
Take a look at some of thesetrucks that are going to be out
there.
No doubt look to somebody'shorse trailer but June 25th

(01:04:54):
through the 28th, come see us.
Come be a part of what we'redoing.

Speaker 2 (01:04:57):
Guys, thank you for being a part of what we do, you
bet.
Joe, thanks for coming on, it'sbeen a whole lot of fun today.
Hopefully it provided for youguys out there a little bit
behind the scenes on what therodeo means to Northwest
Arkansas, how it's evolved, howyou can put some of those
practices in place for maybeyour nonprofit or your business.

(01:05:19):
But yeah, get the family out,do something traditional that
maybe you haven't done in thepast.
Go check out Joe and his entirecrew at the Rodeo of the Ozarks
, from the parade to the muttonbusting, to the funnel cakes and
so on and so forth.
Hey, thanks for joining us thisweek.
Make sure to follow us onCrossroadConversationPodcastcom
and check out over 1,000vehicles in stock and ready to
go for you at LewisSuperstorecom.
Hey, thanks for joining ustoday and we hope you enjoyed

(01:05:43):
this episode.
Make sure to give it a like,share it with your friends and
family.
Visit our website and send ussome questions.
We want to know what you'd liketo hear, who you'd like to hear
from and what you want to see,or maybe even some questions for
us to answer about either theautomotive industry or just
business in general.